Unstoppable Ascension
by righteousfangyuan
Summary: Everything is within my grasp!
1. Chapter 1

Iron Heart sat on the side of a little road in the village, looking at the blue sky in a daze. Iron Heart was not his real name, but a nickname. Due to his poor health as a child his father was afraid he might not live so he was given this nickname as a tradition.

His real name was Naruto. The Uzumaki family was considered a big family name in the area, a family of carpenters. The Uzumaki family was well known in the area, and they owned a number of shops that sold wood products.

Iron Heart's father was the second son of the family. He was born from a concubine; therefore, he couldn't take over the family business, so he left the house after he got married and settled in this village.

However, due to his father being a skilled carpenter, Iron Heart's family was pretty well off, not having to worry about food or clothes. They were well respected within the village.

Iron Heart had been very intelligent ever since he was little. He loved to read books and thought deeply about matters. Almost everyone in the village agreed that he was a prodigy. Every time his father heard someone praise Iron Heart, the wrinkles on his face would fade and he would reveal a happy smile.

His mother cared for him a lot. One could say that he had grown up in his parents' love. He knew that his parents had high expectations of him. Other children his age were all working in the fields, while he sat at home reading.

The more he read, the more he thought about. He yearned for the world outside of the village. Iron Heart raised his head and looked at the end of the road. After letting out a sigh, he closed his book, got up, and walked home.

His father was sitting in the courtyard. Holding a pipe, he took a deep breath and asked, "Iron Heart, how goes your studies?" as Iron Heart walked through the door.

Iron Heart muttered a few words as he passed by. His father shook the ashes out of his pipe, rose up, and said, "Iron Heart, you have to study properly. Next year is the district exam. Whether you have a future or not will all depend on this exam. Don't end up like me, who will spend my entire life in a village."

"Enough, you complain about this every day. If you ask me, our Iron Heart will definitely pass the exam!" Iron Heart's mother carried over some food and set it on the table. She gestured at the two to come and eat.

Iron Heart responded with a sound, then he sat down and casually ate a few mouthfuls. His mother affectionately looked at him and passed him the few pieces of meat there were.

"Dad, is Fourth Uncle almost here?" Iron Heart asked as he raised his head.

"Calculating the time, it should be within these next few days. Your fourth uncle is more successful than your father. Hey, Iron Heart's mom, have the special dishes prepared for Fourth Uncle all been packed?" The moment Iron Heart's father mentioned Fourth Uncle, there was a hint of sadness on his face.

His mom nodded and emotionally said, "Iron Heart, your fourth uncle is a very good person. In these past few years, it was all thanks to him that your father's wood carvings have stayed at a good price. If you are able to achieve success, don't forget to repay your fourth uncle."

As Iron Heart's mom was talking, the sound of a horse was heard outside the door. Following the sound of the horse drawn carriage, a hearty laugh could be heard.

"Second Brother, open the door!"

Iron Heart was surprised. He immediately rushed to open the main gate. He saw a strong middle-aged man with bright eyes standing outside. When he saw Iron Heart, he laughed and rubbed Iron Heart's head. Smiling, he said, "Iron Heart, I only haven't seen you in half a year and you have grown taller again."

Iron Heart's parents immediately stood up. His father, smiling, said, "Fourth Brother, I figured it was about time you arrived. Hurry inside. Iron Heart, why haven't you gotten a chair for your fourth uncle yet?"

Iron Heart happily agreed. He hurried back into the house, took out a chair, and placed it next to the dining table. He carefully wiped it with his sleeves while looking hopefully at the middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man winked in his direction and jokingly said, "Iron Heart, since when were you so diligent? I remember the last time I was here, you were not like this."

Iron Heart's father glanced at Iron Heart and said, "This little rascal was just inquiring about when you would arrive."

The middle-aged man saw Iron Heart blushing and laughingly said, "Iron Heart, your fourth uncle hasn't forgotten his promise to you." After he finished speaking, he took out two books and placed them on the table.

Iron Heart excitedly cheered, then flipped through the books. He could barely contain his excitement.

Iron Heart's mom kindly glanced at her son and said to the middle-aged man, "Fourth Brother, your older brother is always thinking of you. You should stay for a few more days this time."

The middle-aged man shook his head and said, "Second Sister-in-Law, there are many matters to attend to in the family these days. I must head home early tomorrow morning. After this busy time, I'll come back and see you guys." He gave his second brother a regretful look.

Iron Heart's father sighed, saying, "Don't listen to my wife. Properly pack the goods tomorrow. The family's matters are more important. We can meet next time."

The middle-aged man looked at Iron Heart's father and asked, "Second Brother, Iron Heart is 15 years old, yes?"

Iron Heart's father nodded and said, "After this year, this little rascal is going to be 16. In a flash, more than 10 years have quickly passed by." He look at his son dotingly.

The middle-aged man pondered for a while and said, in a serious tone, "Second Brother, Second Sister-in-Law, I have something to tell you: the Konoha Sect is taking in disciples. This year, the family has three recommendation slots, and I received one of them."

Iron Heart's father was stunned and said, with a pale face, "Konoha Sect? The Konoha Sect that is full of immortals?"

The middle-aged man smiled, nodded, and said, "Second Brother, it is that very immortal sect! Our family is still a prominent one in the area and has the qualifications to recommend potential disciples. You know my boy, he can't really study, but he is good with swords and knives. I doubt the immortal sect will take my son. This spot is really precious. I know Iron Heart has been very smart since he was little and has always loved to study. He might have a chance."

Iron Heart's mother felt delighted and said, "Fourth Brother, this … this …"

The middle-aged man rubbed Iron Heart's head and said, "Second Brother, Second Sister-in-Law, let this matter be settled. Let Iron Heart try; if he really gets accepted, it is his fortune."

Iron Heart confusedly looked at his parents and his fourth uncle. He wasn't able to understand what was going on. "Immortals? What are immortals?" Iron Heart softly and hesitantly asked.

The middle-aged man's face turned serious. Looking at Iron Heart, he said, "Iron Heart, immortals are those who can fly in the sky. They are simply not something we mortals can understand."

Iron Heart was confused but grew curious of immortals.

Iron Heart's father excitedly got up, pulled Iron Heart's mom, and was about to bow to the middle-aged man. The middle-aged man quickly pulled them up and sincerely said, "Second Brother, what are you doing? My mother died early. If it wasn't for Second Brother's mother taking care of me, I wouldn't be here today. Iron Heart is my nephew and this is the least I can do."

Iron Heart's father started crying. He heavily patted the middle-aged man's back, nodded his head, and sternly said to Iron Heart, "Remember, Naruto, never forget what your fourth uncle has done for us, or else I will not consider you my son!"

Iron Heart's heart trembled. Although he was ignorant towards immortals, he could tell from his parents' expressions that they viewed this matter with great importance. He knelt in front of his fourth uncle and kowtowed a few times.

The middle-aged man pulled up Iron Heart and praised him. "Good child. You get ready and I'll pick you up at the end of the month."

That night, Iron Heart went to bed early. He could still hear sounds from his father and fourth uncle. Father was very happy. Even though he rarely drank, he had to drink a few cups with Fourth Uncle today.

"Immortals, what were they?" Iron Heart's heart was very excited. He knew in his heart that this was an opportunity, an opportunity to see the outside world!

Fourth Uncle left early the next morning. Iron Heart and his parents saw him off at the village entrance. On the way back, he clearly noticed that his father looked a lot younger. His eyes were filled with hope.

The expectations in his eyes were much greater than the time he wanted Iron Heart to pass the district exam.

There were no secrets in the village, even if it was how many pups a dog gave birth to. Everyone in the village would hear the news. Soon, everyone in the village heard the news from Iron Heart's mother and all the neighbors came in to visit. Everyone's gazes toward Iron Heart was different from before. Some were filled envy and others with jealousy.

"The Uzumaki family gave birth a good son. He has been accepted as a disciple of the Konoha Sect."

"I have watched this child, Iron Heart, as he grew up! He was very smart ever since he was little. Now he is a Konoha Sect disciple. He has a very promising future."

"Iron Heart, you have great talent! When you are successful in the future, don't forget to come back and visit."

These talks filled Iron Heart's ears, acting like Iron Heart was already a Konoha Sect disciple. Every time his parents heard it, they couldn't stop smiling. The wrinkles on their faces had lessened greatly.

Whenever Iron Heart walked alone in the village, all of the villagers would passionately ask him about this and that. There were even people who told their kids to follow Iron Heart as an example.

Half a month passed by quickly. The news of Iron Heart becoming a Konoha Sect disciple had spread quickly. All of the nearby villagers had come to see Iron Heart.

Everyone who came by brought gifts. Iron Heart's parents couldn't reject them, but as they left, Naruto's parents planned return gifts. According to Iron Heart's father, "Our son will be an immortal in the future, so he can't owe any favors. We will prepare return gifts for all the visitors."

Soon, the Uzumaki family learned that Iron Heart's fourth uncle gave his son's spot to Iron Heart. One after another, they came to congratulate him.

Iron Heart's father attached great importance to the visiting relatives because many of them used to look down on him in the past and drove him out of the family all those years ago. Now that they were all coming to visit him, he felt like his years of sorrow were instantly swept away.

He and Iron Heart's mother discussed a bit and decided to properly entertain everyone. They spent a fortune to hire the village teacher to write invitations to send to their relatives.

The village teacher didn't want money, he wanted Iron Heart to acknowledge that he grew up studying in his care. Iron Heart had no objections as this was the truth.

After the invitations were sent to most of the Uzumaki family members, there were so many people that Iron Heart's dad had to move the party's location to the village square and set up a feast.

The villagers helped entertain the guests. As they spoke to each other, they would praise Iron Heart endlessly.

Iron Heart's dad had brought his wife and son to the village entrance to personally greet the guests and introduce each relative to Iron Heart.

"This is your third grandfather. When Father left the family, your third grandfather secretly helped a lot. Iron Heart, you have to remember to repay his kindness," Iron Heart's father said as he helped a white-haired old man.

Iron Heart quickly nodded. The old man looked at Iron Heart and said, "Second Brother, time passes by so fast. Your son is already this big! His future is already brighter than yours."

Iron Heart's father's face was full of radiance. He smiled and said, "Third Grandfather, Iron Heart has been smart ever since he was a kid. He was bound to be better than me. Take your time. Wife, help support Third Grandfather."

Iron Heart's mother quickly helped the old man walk toward the feast.

Seeing the old man leaving, Iron Heart's father let out a snort and said to Iron Heart, "That old guy looked down on your dad and forced me away. Now that you have a good future, he comes to congratulate me. He is just that kind of relative."

Iron Heart cluelessly nodded and asked, "Is Fourth Uncle coming?"

Iron Heart's father shook his head. "Your fourth uncle sent a letter. He won't be able to come back until the end of the month."

At that moment, another carriage arrived at the village entrance. A 50-plus-year-old man came out. He looked at Iron Heart's father and said, "Second Brother, congratulations!"

Iron Heart's father's face turned complicated and he said, "Big Brother!"

The old man's eyes swept across and looked at Iron Heart. He smiled. "Second Brother, so this is your son? Not bad! Maybe he will really be selected."

Iron Heart's father frowned, stretched, and said, "Iron Heart might not have much merit, but he is smart and loves to read books. He is bound to be selected."

"That is not necessarily true. When immortal sects look for disciples, there are very strict requirements. I see that this kid is very dumb. Going will be a waste of time for him," said a haughty voice from the carriage, then a 16 or 17-year-old boy stepped out.

The young boy looked very pretty. He had eyebrows like scimitars, a fierce gaze, and eyes full of disdain.

Iron Heart's father glared at him, and Naruto gave him a deep look but didn't say anything.

The old man's face changed colors and he shouted, "Menma, how can you be so rude?! This is your second uncle and your little brother Naruto. Why haven't you greeted them?!" He turned to Iron Heart's father and said, "My son's words are ugly. Second Brother, don't mind him, but…" As he was talking, he suddenly turned and said, "But Second Brother, it is not a simple matter for these immortals to accept a disciple–it is a matter of fate. This time, it's because the Konoha Sect was very interested in my son that our Uzumaki family was given three spots, including his."

Iron Heart's father snorted and said, "If your son can do it, then my son will definitely be selected!"

The youth laughed, not caring about the old man's words. With disdain, he said, "So, you are Second Uncle. I suggest you don't be so optimistic. The way of cultivation is very complex, and only one in ten thousand people can even learn it. How can he compete with me, who, while not being an official disciple yet, was personally selected by an immortal teacher?"

The old man's face flashed with a color of pride, then he "scolded" the youth and brought him toward the feast.

"Iron Heart, don't worry. Even if you are not selected, it doesn't matter. There is always the district exam next year," Iron Heart's father earnestly said after suppressing his anger.

Naruto confidently whispered, "Dad, don't worry. I'll be selected!"

Iron Heart's dad gently patted his son's shoulder. His eyes were filled with rays of hope.

One after another, they greeted a lot of relatives. Iron Heart's father took him back to the feast. In front of them was a bustling scene of people celebrating.

Iron Heart's father cried out, "My dear relatives, my fellow villagers, I, Kombu, am not a very cultured man and don't have much to say, but today, I'm very happy because my son has a chance to become a Konoha Sect disciple. This is the happiest moment of my life. I won't say more, but thank you all for coming." He raised his cup and drained it of the wine within.

"Second Brother, your son has been very smart ever since he was little. He will definitely be selected, like Soba's son, and become an immortal."

"Second Brother, having a son like Iron Heart means you have not lived your life in vain. In the future, all you have to do is wait to enjoy the good fortune."

"Iron Heart, you must make your father proud! You must enter the Konoha Sect no matter what!"

There were numerous bright scenes everywhere. The sounds of celebration came from all sides. However, there were many people like Menma's father, who on the surface were giving their congratulations but in their hearts had always looked down upon Iron Heart's father and Iron Heart himself. Menma's father looked at his son, and then at Iron Heart. He felt very dissatisfied. Fourth Brother's actions were outside of his expectations, but as the immortals weren't blind, there was no way Iron Heart would be selected.

People passed by, one by one. Iron Heart's father pulled Iron Heart around from table to table to give a toast and introduce various unknown relatives to him.

Today, Iron Heart's father had consumed a lot of wine. He had never been this well regarded before. The feast lasted until it was very late and everyone started to head home. Before leaving, and still with a look of contempt, Menma, while no one noticed, whispered to Iron Heart, "Little fool, you won't be selected. You're not good enough."

He left with his father as he displayed a smile full of contempt.

After returning home, Iron Heart lied on his bed. He secretly decided in his heart that he had to be selected no matter what!

Half a month passed by quickly. Today, Iron Heart's fourth uncle arrived in a carriage.

Iron Heart's parents quickly welcomed him inside. The middle-aged man washed his face and hurriedly said, "Second Brother, Second Sister-in-Law, I can't stay long this time. I'm taking Iron Heart and leaving. The Konoha Sect will arrive to pick up the potential disciples tomorrow morning."

Iron Heart's father was stunned. A trace of sadness appeared on his face. He firmly said, "Fine. Iron Heart, follow your fourth uncle. If you are selected, study dutifully at the Konoha Sect. However, if you aren't selected, don't worry and come back home."

Iron Heart, not wanting to leave his parents, nodded heavily. His mother took out a parcel from the room and lovingly said, "Iron Heart, listen to your fourth uncle and don't cause any trouble. The outside is not the same as home; you must have patience. Mother has prepared you some new clothes. Also, there are some of your favorite baked sweet potatoes. Mother will miss you. If you are not selected, just come back." As Iron Heart's mom was talking, tears began appearing in her eyes.

Iron Heart had never left the village in his entire life. This was his first time leaving.

Fourth Uncle emotionally said, "Iron Heart, you must be selected so you make your parents proud. Second Brother, Second Sister-in-Law, the family will have a big celebration in a few days, so I am too busy today. Tomorrow, I'll pick you guys up. The results for the three candidates should be out by then."

He quickly pulled Iron Heart onto the carriage, whipped the horse, and set off.

With tears in their eyes, Iron Heart's parents stared at the carriage as it quickly disappeared into the distance.

"Iron Heart has never left home before. Will he be bullied?" Iron Heart's mom said while biting her lip. Her eyes were filled with sadness.

"He has grown up and has to deal with his own fortune." Iron Heart's father picked up his pipe and inhaled deeply. More wrinkles appeared on his face.

As the carriage quickly rolled along the road, Naruto's body bounced with the uneven ground. In his arms was the package that contained all of his parents' hopes. He was leaving the village he had lived in for 15 years.

The trip wouldn't be an short one. Naruto lied down and fell asleep in the carriage. Not knowing how much time had passed, he was gently nudged. He opened his eyes to looked up to see Fourth Uncle, who looked at him smiling and asked, "Iron Heart, how do you feel about leaving home for the first time?"

Naruto noticed that the carriage had stopped, and smiled. "Not much to say, just a little anxious since I don't know if I will be selected by the immortals or not."

Fourth Uncle let out a laugh and patted Iron Heart's shoulder, saying, "Okay, don't overthink it. This is uncle's house. You go rest first, then I'll take you to the family tomorrow morning."

When he climbed off the carriage, Naruto was in front of a tile-roofed house. He then followed Fourth Uncle to a room. Naruto sat on the bed, unable to sleep. The things his parents, village, and relatives said flashed through his mind. He signed in his heart. The thought of becoming the disciple of an immortal became heavier in his mind.

Time passed by, bit by bit. A moment later, the sun gradually rose. Naruto didn't get much rest the whole night, but he was still full of energy. With a trace of fear, he followed Fourth Uncle to the main house of the Uzumaki family.

This was the first time Naruto had seen a house this big, leaving him in a daze. Fourth Uncle said while walking, "Iron Heart, you have to make your father proud. Don't let the relatives ridicule you."

Naruto's mind became more tense. He bit his lips and nodded.

Soon, Fourth Uncle brought him to the middle of the courtyard. Iron Heart's father's eldest brother was standing there. When he saw Iron Heart, he nodded and said, "Iron Heart, when the immortal arrives, don't freak out, just follow your older brother Menma. Do everything he does."

The old man's tone was very harsh on those last few words.

Naruto stayed silent. He looked around and noticed that beside Menma there was another youth. The youth's skin was a bit dark, his build was very large, and his eyes showed hint of intelligence. There was a bulge in his shirt, like he was hiding something.

He looked at Iron Heart and made a face, then ran over and said, "So you're Second Uncle's son? My name is Udon."

Naruto chuckled and nodded.

When the old man saw Naruto ignoring him, he became very annoyed and was about to scold him.

Right at this moment, the clouds in the sky suddenly split open. Then a sword of light suddenly descended like lightning. After the light disappeared, there stood a youth in white whose eyes were bright and piercing, emitting an elegant spirit. His cold eyes swept across the three youths, especially at the youth with the bulge in his shirt. He asked coldly, "Are these three the ones recommended by the Uzumaki family?"

"This is an immortal?" Under his gaze, Naruto started to feel cold. His heart pounded and his face paled while staring at the immortal.

The dark-skinned youth, upon seeing immortal, placed his hands near the pockets of his pants, showing a respectful demeanour. His eyes held a fanatical expression.

Only Menma casually look at the others and snorted.

Menma's father quickly stepped forward and respectfully said, "Immortal, these three are the Uzumaki family's recommendations."

The youth nodded and then impatiently said, "Who is Menma?"

The old man's face showed a flash of happiness, then he quickly pulled Menma. "Immortal, this is my son, Menma."

The immortal youth gave Menma a deep look. Then his face brightened and he nodded. "Menma is indeed talented; no wonder Martial Uncle took a liking to him."

Menma proudly looked at Naruto and the smart-looking youth and proudly said, "This is natural. In order to become an immortal, one must have a strong spirit."

The youth made a frown, but it quickly disappeared. He faintly smiled at Menma's direction, waved his sleeves, and took the three youths on the rainbow and disappeared.

Fourth Uncle looked into the sky and muttered, "Iron Heart, you must be selected!"

Naruto felt his body lighten, and the wind hitting his face caused him pain. On closer inspection, he noticed that he was under the arm of the youth, and they were flying quickly through the sky. The village turned into little black dots as they quickly flew forward.

After just a little, the wind caused his eyes to tear up and turn red.

"Unless you three want to become blind, close your eyes," the youth said coldly. Naruto's heart tensed, and he quickly closed his eyes, afraid to keep looking.

After a short period of time, Naruto could feel that the youth was short of breath and his speed started decreasing. Then, in a flash, the youth quickly descended. The moment before landing, the youth loosened his arm and the three youths fell to the ground.

Thankfully, the fall wasn't hard, so the three got up quickly. In front of Naruto was a paradise-like scene, with mountains, flowers, and a river. It was a truly idyllic scene.

Straight ahead stood a towering mountain, its peak covered in clouds that hid its true appearance. Echoes of beasts' cries could be heard. There was a path of twisted steps that snaked its way down the mountain, like a painting, evoking a feeling of a different world.

Far off in the in the distance, there was a hall at the top of the mountain. Even though it was covered by the clouds, the shining bright light made people to want to worship it.

Next to the hall, there was a silver-colored bridge with the shape of the crescent moon connecting that peak with another mountain peak.

With these natural beauties, this was truly worthy of being the location of the Konoha Sect. The Konoha Sect was one of the few cultivation sect in the country of Zhao. 500 years ago, it was the leading force of cultivation sects in the country of Zhao and had several Nascent Soul old monsters. However, with the passage of time, it had shrunken to its current size and was only able to barely have a foothold in the cultivation world.

However, for the mortals near the Konoha Sect, it was still an elusive figure.

"Little Brother Migi, are these the three candidates recommended by the Uzumaki family?" A middle-aged man dressed in black with an immortal demeanor floated down from the mountain peak.

The youth showed a face full of respect and said, "Third Brother, these are the Uzumaki family's three recommended youths."

The middle-aged man's gaze swept across them, focusing on Menma a few times. Smiling, he said, "I know you are about to have a breakthrough. I'll handle the test, you go cultivate."

The youth agreed, then his body moved toward the mountain, and disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye.

Naruto stared at the scene before him full of excitement. Suddenly, he noticed someone tugging his clothes and turned around. It was Udon. Eyes filled with excitement, he said "This is where immortals live, damn it. No matter what, I, Udon, must be selected." After saying so, he touched the bulging object concealed in his shirt.

Menma was dazed by the scene before him. It took a long time for him to recover his senses, and the amount of arrogance in his heart shrank.

At this moment, several rainbow-colored swords flew towards them. For each sword that dissipated, there was a Konoha Sect disciple, each followed by several 15-year-olds.

There were both male and female youths. As they landed, they too had similar expressions to Naruto's group as they stared at the scene in front of them.

All the Konoha Sect disciples that brought the youths gathered at the side and started talking about the youths. After waiting a while, all the other youths who had been recommended arrived at the sect. A black-clad middle-aged man scanned the area. Then he emotionlessly said, "Among the lot of you, only a few will be selected to be Konoha Sect disciples."

All of the youths cried out in shock. Naruto's heart shuddered. He counted a total of 48 people taking the test.

"Cultivation, the path to becoming an immortal, depends on your natural talent. The first test is to see whether or not your spirit is strong enough. Now, whoever I point to will come up and take the test." The middle-aged man emotionlessly pointed at a youth.

The youth walked over carefully, his legs trembling. The middle-aged man put his hand on his head and said, "Not qualified. Stand to the left."

The youth suddenly lost all strength. Face looking bleak and eyes blank, he moved to the left in silence.

Then another youth was selected. He moved forward with a fearful expression.

"Not qualified."

"Not qualified."

"Not qualified."

Ten people in a row all failed the test. Up until now there was still no one to the right of the middle-aged man.

It was Menma's turn. All of his previous pride disappeared from his face. Looking pale, he stepped forward.

After the middle-aged man put his hand on Menma's head, his face suddenly lit up and he asked, "What is your name?"

Menma quickly replied respectfully, "Immortal, my name is Menma."

The middle-aged man nodded. He then smiled and said, "So you are the one Martial Teacher mentioned. Good. Menma, stand to the right."

Menma felt exaltation and walked toward the right under everyone's admiration. His eyes were filled with arrogance and contempt as he looked at the crowd. He felt untouchable.

"Motherfucker, he is one lucky dog," Udon murmured to Naruto while curling his lip.

Naruto's heart became more tense. In front of his eyes rose his parents' eyes filled with expectations. He tightened his fists.

"Not bad, you also stand to the right," said the middle-aged man, surprised, to the young girl in front of him.

After a short period of time, almost all the youths had been tested and only two stood to the right of the middle-aged man. Udon was up next.

Udon quickly ran up to the middle-aged man. Before he could even start the test, he knelt to the ground and kowtowed a few times. He said, "Immortal, may you enjoy a long life! My name is Udon. You have already tested so many people, so you must be tired! Why don't you rest for a while? I'm in no rush, it's no problem."

The middle-aged man laughed out loud. He had tested so many people whose faces were filled with fear, yet this clever youth here, without the slightest bit of fear, was trying to win favor with him. He pressed his hand on Udon's head and said, "Talent is lacking. Not…"

The moment Udon heard that his spirit was lacking, his heart plummeted. Without waiting for the middle-aged man to finish, he quickly took out a jade box and presented it front of him. Udon wisely said, "Immortal, my father found this by accident in the mountain but was unable to open it. I specially brought it to give to Immortal."

The middle-aged man chuckled and shook his head. He was about to refuse Udon, but as he scanned the box, his pupils suddenly contracted and his face suddenly lit up. "Not bad! This is at least a 300-year-old mushroom. Looking at the jade box, it was sealed by a cultivator. No wonder your father couldn't open it." He paused, then said with a slightly faltering voice, "I'm in need of a helper for my alchemy. Are you willing to be my helper?"

Udon, surprised, got up quickly. The difference in treatment was like heaven and earth, causing him to be very excited. He exclaimed, "Yes, Immortal, I am willing!"

The middle-aged man said, while chuckling, "Since you'll be my helper, I won't mistreat you. You can cultivate just like the other disciples. Go stand to the right."

Udon was very excited inside. He ran to the right side and gave Menma a triumphant stare.

The faces of all the youths that failed turned pale. All of them felt very depressed. A few even started crying.

The middle-aged man frowned. He shouted, "Send away all those who started crying."

A few of the Konoha Sect disciples stepped out. They quickly took the ones that started crying and casually disappeared in swords of light.

The middle-aged man pointed at Naruto.

Naruto took a deep breath. He nervously walked toward the side of the middle-aged man, his mind completely blank. Praying silently in his heart, he couldn't help but remember the expectation in his parents' eyes.

"I will definitely be selected!" Naruto thought with determination.

The middle-aged man's hand pressed on his head. With a deadpan face, he said the two words Naruto dreaded the most.

"Not qualified!"

Naruto didn't remember how he made it to the left side, he only heard the spring thunder roaring in his ears and the echoing of the two words the middle-aged man said.

After a moment, everyone had been tested, and only three people stood to the right. In the eyes of everyone else, the three were insurmountable and immensely tall.

Menma looked at Naruto with a face full of contempt, fully expressing his disdain for him.

"While a strong spirit is needed to be cultivator, perseverance is even more important. Even ordinary students like you, can become sect disciples if you have enough perseverance! The second test is perseverance!" The middle-aged man paused, then said with a deadpan face, "Follow the steps up. If you reach the top, you are qualified. If you're not finished within three days, you fail. Those who fail will be returned to their families. If you cannot endure any longer or meet danger, just yell out loud and someone will come and save you."

The middle-aged man smiled to the three on his right and said, "You two, follow me to meet the patriarch. We will also find you masters. Udon, you don't need to go, come with me to the alchemy house to get used to the place."

After the middle-aged man finished giving instructions, he took the three selected youths and disappeared into the mountains.

Naruto took a deep breath, eyes full of determination. He walked up the stone steps with no hesitation and started the test of perseverance.

Minus the three selected youths and the six crying youths who were taken away, 39 remained.

Among these 39 youths, the ones that were very depressed, the ones very determined, and those who were scared all walked towards their own futures.

The uneven stone steps were very dangerous on both sides. The slightest mistake would cause one to slip and fall.

After less than half a day, Naruto's legs felt like they were made of lead. He was sweaty and out of breath, it was difficult to even move. Looking up from the bottom of the mountain, the trail didn't seem long, but now, this trail felt like it had no end. Naruto's heart sank. He could not help but generate thoughts of despair.

In front of him there were a dozen physically strong boys, slowly climbing. They were all also out of breath. Until now, no one had given up.

Naruto gritted his teeth. He knew this was his last chance. His parents' expectations filled his mind. At that very moment, the foot of a boy behind him slipped. The boy fell off the side of the mountain with a scream.

"I give up! HELP!"

Everybody stopped to looked down at the same time and saw a dark light flashing by. A Konoha Sect disciple appeared out of nowhere and grabbed the boy. Their bodies could be seen gently falling to the foot of the mountain.

Naruto was pale and silent. He carefully continued climbing upwards. Time seemed to be passing much more slowly. Two days later, he could see the shadows of the dozen of youths in front of him

Naruto didn't know how many of these companions would give up, he only knew that he must not give up. His feet were were bleeding and swelling. He felt a terrible tingling every step he took. He still persisted and used his hands to climb.

A middle aged man with a sickly complexion floated down the stairs from the top of the mountain. "Little children, keep your hearts strong, for this path is ruthless. It won't be in vain, nothing is in vain…." He let out a lengthy sigh as he floated down past the climbing youths.

The middle aged man passed Naruto. This was the sixth youth he passed by, and he was the most pathetic of the bunch. With clothes soaked with blood, he seemed to be bleeding everywhere. His knees and toes were mangled. Naruto was climbing using his hands at this point. The middle aged man sighed loudly and asked, "My child, what is your name?"

Wing Lin's vision was blurry. The only thought in his head was to reach the top or die. He didn't even hear the middle aged man's question. In his eyes this little trail was the only thing that mattered.

The middle aged man looked at Naruto's eyes. Deep down, he was rather moved. He put his hand on Naruto's head. "This boy has amazing perseverance. It's too bad he lacks talent. What a waste, what a waste…." He gave Naruto a deep look, then continued to descend the steps.

The next night, Naruto's hands were bloody. He left a trail of blood as he climbed the stairs. He did not know how he kept going, but something kept fueling his body to go on. He felt like he could die at any time.

The sun rose on the third day. In the distance, Naruto could just barely make out the end of the stone steps. Unfortunately, with the end in sight, he heard a thunderous voice that shook his heart.

"Time is up. Only three have qualified. The rest….FAILED!"

Naruto let out a small, bitter laugh. He looked down while his body was slanting down on the stairs. His consciousness completely faded.

The black-clad middle aged man from three days ago stood on top of the mountain. He was looking at Naruto from less than 50 meters away with a ruthless look in his eyes.

A few Konoha Sect disciples went down from the top of the mountain. They each stopped next to one of the youths on the way down and fed them medicine.

A female Konoha Sect disciple said in a cold voice, "Seniors, out of 39 testers, 25 gave up. Only three passed the test, and 11 remain." She had also experienced this brutal test. She relied on the martial arts she had practiced since she was a child to pass. She barely had enough perseverance. Even now, after ten years of effort, she still hadn't become a true disciple.

The black-clad middle aged man had an icy look in his eyes. He slightly nodded while his eyes swept past the 11 unconscious teenagers." Take the three that qualified and find work for them to do in the future. Send the 25 that gave up back to their families. As for the last 11 people, wait for them to wake up. Send them together to the house of the sword spirit to see if any of them have spiritual affinity with the sword spirit. If they don't, send them home"

After the middle aged man was finished here, he walked away without another glance and the youths below.

Three days later, at the house of the sword spirit, stood 11 teenagers with pale faces. The injuries all over Naruto's body were already healed, but the wound in his heart was still gaping open. The pain of his failure kept eating away at his mind and body.

This test of the spirit of the sword was conducted not by the black-clad middle aged man, but by a man wearing white, someone they hadn't seen before. He had the same cold, ruthless look in his eyes. He looked at the youths as if they were ants.

The man said, with an impatient look, "This is the last test. If you can walk into this room, you are qualified."

All Naruto saw was an extremely common building. The front door of the building was open. When he looked inside, he could see swords of different lengths.

Each of the youths, one by one, walked towards the house. The first one that approached got within 5 meters of the house. His face went red as he struggled to get closer, but was expelled by an invisible force.

"Unqualified! Next!" said the man in white.

Naruto was the seventh in line. The six before him all met the same fate, expelled by an invisible force when they got within 5 meters of the house. He smiled bitterly, and with the last bit of hope in his heart, stepped forward.

As he approached the five meter mark, Naruto was able to keep going with ease. His heart was beating rapidly with anticipation. He stepped closer, 1 meter more. He wasn't feeling any discomfort yet.

The white clothed man let out a surprised "Hey!". His eyes were bright, and his face showed slight interest. He gently said, "Don't hesitate to continue. Keep walking towards the house of the spirit of the sword. If you are recognized by the spirit of the sword, you will be accepted as a true disciple, even if you failed the two previous tests."

The ten other teenagers standing there had the color of envy in their faces. They were deeply jealous of Naruto.

Naruto was very tense on the inside. The looks his parents gave him flashed through his mind again as he stepped one meter closer to the door. There were only 3 meters remaining to reach the door. Naruto took another step.

He suddenly felt a huge force rush in his direction. Naruto lost control of his body and was sent flying more than ten meters away.

The rest of the youths all looked at Naruto with mocking expressions in their eyes. They thought that Naruto was just like them after all, with no chance.

With a bitter laugh, Naruto could feel the gaping wounds in his heart grow bigger. His parents' expectant eyes gradually dissipated from his mind.

The man in white's eyes turned cold again and he said, "Failed. Next."


	2. Chapter 2

In the end, none of the 11 youths passed the test. There was one young girl who made it as far as Naruto.

On that day, all of the youths that failed the test were sent back to the bottom of the mountain. The Konoha Sect disciples took them home one by one. The one that came to take Naruto home was the same youth that had picked him up. Behind him was Menma and Udon.

The youth clasped his hands and said, "Brother Menma, congratulations on becoming Uncle-Master's disciple. You have a bright future ahead of you."

Menma's face showed an arrogant expression. He proudly said, "It is only natural. Master said that after I have finished taking care of the mundane affairs at home, he will teach me cultivator techniques after I return."

Udon raised his head and added on the side, "I have always looked down on your arrogant demeanor. So what if you have a master? I will be able to learn how to produce immortal pills."

Menma gave Udon a hard stare, then he shifted his gaze to Naruto, who silently stood there. He smiled, and said, "Iron Heart, how was it? I told you before that you didn't have the ability, but both you and your father wouldn't believe it. Now we know the result."

Iron Heart raised his head, glanced slightly at Menma, and said "Sir, my parents are waiting for me at home. Please take me back as soon as possible."

Menma saw Naruto dare to ignore him and sneered. "Little bumpkin, you are better off becoming a carpenter in a little village for the rest of your life, like your father."

The immortal youth let out a faint smile as he looked at the three youths in front of him, but didn't say a single word. He waved his sleeves and brought the three along as they disappeared from the Konoha Sect mountain.

Comparing this flight to last one, Naruto's mood was like heaven and earth. Before, he was full of hope, but now, he was full of despair.

A little while later, the Uzumaki CLan's house came into view. Naruto opened his eyes. He could see from afar the clan house that was lit up in celebration with a lively atmosphere. There were far more banquet tables than when his father had organized the feast at the village. They covered almost the whole yard.

All the Uzumaki family members were there. Even those who were away buying lumber had come back. The celebration was in full swing, full of drinking and chatter.

The lead of the banquet was Kombu's older brother, Kombu, and Kombu's third brother. All the relatives surrounded the three of them to give them their congratulation. The scene was very festive.

Their eyes were filled with envy, but their mouths were full of flattery. Especially towards Naruto's father, who couldn't help but remember the sadness from his past.

Naruto's sixth uncle exclaimed, "Second brother, this time your son will be selected for sure. After this you don't have to be a carpenter any more. Anyone who sees you will have no choice but to call you elder."

Kombu's fifth uncle said, "Old Kombu, back in the days I already knew your life wouldn't be normal. You devoted your life to Iron Heart. Now that he is going to be an immortal, you as his father must be extraordinary."

"Second brother, this time both your kid Iron Heart and my son will be selected. Us brothers haven't met each other in 10 years. This time, we must have a drink together, no matter what!." said Udon's father, as he brought over glasses of wine. He was also Kombu's third brother.

Iron Heart's father looked at all the relatives that used to look down on him. All the sorrow from his past was swept away. However, he couldn't help but feel a giant rock weighing down his heart.

"Iron Heart, you must be selected!"

"Second sister in law, this time your marriage to second brother has brought you good fortune. Having Iron Heart as your child, who in the neighboring area won't know you?"

"Second sister in law, your kid Iron Heart has more ability than my child. Ever since Iron Heart was little, he has been very smart."

"Iron Heart's mother, even though we are of the same family, there are many consanguine relatives who have married nowadays. My daughter is unmarried, and is about the same age as Iron Heart. Iron Heart is handsome and I like him. Why don't we tie the knot between our families?" Like Iron Heart's father, his mother was surrounded by a group of female relatives who were enthusiastically chattering beside her.

Menma's father held an indifferent look the whole time. He secretly desired for the Immortal to come and deliver the news that Iron Heart had not been selected, so he could see his second brother's reaction to it.

As he thought of this, he let out a laugh and toasted the relative next to him that was praising his child.

The scene was bustling and full of spirit. At that moment, a sword of light appeared and landed in the courtyard. Four people came with it.

The area immediately quieted down. No member of the Uzumaki family dared to say a word.

The Konoha Sect disciple swept across the area and secretly sighed. He remembered when he was selected as a Konoha Sect disciple. His hometown was celebrating like this as well. He suddenly give Naruto a look of pity. He knew that the thing that this youth was about to experience wasn't something a youth could handle.

"He has a ruthless path ahead of him…" The disciple shook his head and left in a sword of light.

"Immortal practitioners can't have any earthly desires, take care of what you need to, I'll come pick you up in three days." His voice echoed from the distance.

When Menma's father saw the immortal leave, he quickly rushed up to his son and asked, "Did Immortal Kakashi take you as his disciple?"

Menma said, with a face full of pride and arrogance, "Naturally. Master has said that in ten years I'll be able to become the head of Konoha Sect Disciples."

Menma's father was overjoyed. He patted his son heavily on the shoulders, and laughed. "Good, Menma you will be an immortal in the future! Our Uzumaki family will have an immortal!."

Udon's father's face also had an anxious expression while staring at Udon. When he was about to ask, Udon let out a sigh and said "Dad, you don't have to ask. Your son is already a Konoha Sect Disciple."

Udon's father was ecstatic. He picked up his cup and fiercely drank. Menma had a disgusted look on his face. He said contemptuously: "Third Uncle, you gave birth to a good son. He has lost the Uzumaki family a lot of face. In front of everyone he flattered the immortal and then, only relying on a bribe was he able to become a helper."

Udon raised his brow and said "I'm happy, so what? In the future, let us see who has stronger cultivator techniques, then we will see who has lost the family face."

Iron Heart's father saw the depressed expression his son wore, causing his body to shudder. He had an ominous feeling.

"Iron Heart, what...what about you?" Iron Heart's mother asked, full of expectation.

Iron Heart was silent as Menma, in a derisive tone, said, "I have said before that this kid didn't have any talent. All he did was go and lose face for our family. I passed on the first test, so I didn't see him until later on. A few days later, I heard that he failed all three tests. He might as well not have gone. I would've preferred it if fourth uncle's son had gone instead."

Iron Heart's fourth uncle frowned and said, "Menma, even if you're going to become an immortal, what can you possibly know about what my son can or can't do? The audacity!"

There was a flash of coldness in Menma's eyes. He quietly laughed, but didn't say anything.

Iron Heart's father suddenly looked like he had aged more than 10 years and fell down to his seat. Iron Heart's mother was also shocked, she couldn't believe what was happening. She asked, "Iron Heart, is… is this true?"

Iron Heart bit his lip until it started bleeding. He fell to the ground and kowtowed a few times. He whispered, "Mom, Dad, Iron Heart wasn't selected by the immortals. I'm sorry, I …. I will repay you both in the next life."

Iron Heart's mother realized her son was in despair. She quickly ran and helped Iron Heart to his feet. She whispered, "Child, don't worry. So what if you weren't selected by the immortals? Next year there is the district exam. Child, don't be so hard on yourself. Don't do anything stupid either. Your father and mother still expect you to be at our funerals."

Iron Heart's father snapped out of his daze. He realized the kind of mental state Iron Heart was in. His heart trembled, and he quickly ran up to his son. Holding him, he nervously said, "Iron Heart, you better not do anything stupid. Listen to your dad. Let's go home and study hard for next year's district exam."

The surrounding relatives quickly moved away from Iron Heart's family. They all gathered around as if they were watching a show, gossiping and sharing comments about the event unfolding before them.

Iron Heart's sixth uncle quipped, "I always knew that this Iron Heart kid didn't have any talent. How could he compare to Menma?"

"Totally right. Since this was bound to happen, why act like he was already accepted? How shameful. Old Kombu, you are this old already. How could you still do something so stupid. No wonder dad didn't give you a share of the inheritance back then." said Iron Heart's third uncle sarcastically.

"If you ask me, the story that this kid has always been smart since he was a child was fabricated. It was probably because Old Kombu knew that he himself was a failure. He tried to raise his son's reputation by lying, and now he's been exposed." Said Iron Heart's fifth uncle, whose face had turned ugly.

A female relative scoffed, "Out of the three children that went to test, only he failed. Iron Heart is the worst child in our Uzumaki family. Second sister in law, I earlier said you had good fortune with second brother. Now it seems like your luck will keep dwindling for the rest of your life."

Iron Heart's fifth aunt also sneered, "Isn't that right? When I went to see Iron Heart a few days ago, I was wondering how he could compare to Udon and Menma at all."

Another female relative mercilessly said, "I had already seen that that kid Iron Heart didn't have any talent. Just look at his mom and dad. How could they give birth to anyone good? In our Uzumaki family, only eldest brother and third brother's kids are any good. Iron Heart, bah, just with that name he sounds like an idiot."

"I was totally blind back then, about to push my daughter into a pit of fire. Good thing we found out beforehand that Iron Heart wasn't selected by the immortals. My daughter would've hated me forever if I had her marry him. Iron Heart's mom, let us forget about this whole thing. Since your Iron Heart won't become an immortal, who would want their daughter to marry him? Isn't that like a toad wanting a swan's meat?"

In a few moments all the relatives turned into snobs. They continuously launched a barrage of insults at Iron Heart's family.

Compared to the previous scene, it was like heaven and earth. There were even relatives who went as far as to ask for the gifts they gave back. Seeing his parent's pale faces, Iron Heart tightened his fist. Listening to all the insults left him wishing he was dead.

Menma's father laughed inwardly, and sneered, "Old Kombu, didn't I tell you that to become an immortal's disciple, you need fate on your side? How could there possibly be any chance unless you have talent like my son? Yet you seriously believed it would be possible. Now you made your son wish he was dead! Was there a need for this?"

Iron Heart's father couldn't hold in his anger any longer. He shouted, "Miso, shut your mouth! Back in the day, father on his deathbed left me a part of the inheritance. You worked with the other relatives to steal it away from me, and now you are here insulting me. Do you really think I, Kombu, will quietly endure this?"

"And all of you people as well. Earlier you were happily congratulating me, and now you are here insulting us. Our son is already in this state, yet you add insult to injury. Are you all still human?"

Miso paused for a moment and said, "Why bring up the past? I warned you with good intentions that your son didn't have any talent, but here you are being angry at me. Hmph, with a dad like you, the son won't be much better!"

All the insults thrown at the crestfallen Naruto were like thorns piercing his heart. He coldly looked at everyone and engraved their faces into his heart.

"You, I'll fight you to the death." Iron Heart's father couldn't hold in his anger any longer and picked up a chair. Iron Heart's fourth uncle rushed up and stopped him, whispering, "Brother, don't be impulsive. Elder brother has many servants. Listen to me, don't bother with him."

Iron Heart's fourth uncle glared at Miso and said, "Eldest brother, is that any way to talk? I will not listen to this any longer. If you dare to keep insulting my second brother, don't blame me for not caring about family ties. While the Uzumaki family is big, I have made many friends during my travel. Don't push me to burn it all."

Miso murmured a few words. He still feared the well connected fourth bother.

"Old fourth, what you are saying is unreasonable. We aren't wrong in pointing out that Old Kombu's son doesn't have any talent. What's wrong with us, the older generation, scolding the younger? What you're saying is too unreasonable." said the Family's third eldest uncle with discontent.

"That's right! Fourth brother, we are speaking for you because you gave your spot to second bother. What Menma said was correct, your son is stronger than Iron Heart. He might have really gotten selected by the immortals." Iron Heart's fifth brother added on the side.

Menma, with a proud smile, gloated, "Their family brought all this upon themselves. My father and I warned them beforehand. This useless family is about as stubborn as a donkey. Now they hit a wall."

Udon, with a pale face said, "Iron Heart, he…"

Before he could finish, Udon's father shot him a fierce look. He lost all confidence and kept quiet afterwards.

Iron Heart's fourth uncle let out a deep sigh and said, "Whoever brings this up again means he has something against me, let this be done. Iron Heart not being selected can only be said that he wasn't fortunate enough and nothing else. Iron Heart don't take it to heart, you can come to your fourth uncle for anything. I have no say in immortal sects, but when it comes to normal sects, your uncle still has some ability to get you in. You can go with my son, Broth. I have alway planned to send him to a sect to train.

Menma chuckled when he heard that. He scornfully said, "Iron Heart, I say go with fourth uncle. When you get there, you can tell them you were the trash that was rejected by the immortals. They might really take you."

Naruto slowly raised his head. He looked around, glaring at all the surrounding relatives. When his eyes finally landed on Menma he said, "Menma, mark my words. I, Naruto, will definitely enter an immortal school. I'll also never forget how you and your father insulted my family."

Menma laughed when he heard Iron Heart's words but before he could say anything else, Fourth Uncle shouted at Menma, " You wordy little brat! I'm going to waste you right now! Let see if the immortals still want you then."

Menma's father suddenly looked pale. He hurriedly stepped in front of Menma. "Fourth brother, you wouldn't dare!"

The surrounding relatives all held a cold smile on their faces as they watched the events unfold in front of them

Iron Heart's fourth uncle laughed. He had a steely look in his eyes. In a low, deep voice, he said, "Really brother? I wouldn't dare?"

Iron Heart's father quickly stepped forward to pull his fourth brother back. "Fourth brother, listen to your second brother. You have a wife and kids at home, acting like this isn't worth it for you. I will forever remember what you have done for me, just bring my family home."

Fourth Uncle glared at Menma's father. He then nodded at his second brother, and proceeded to leave the house with Iron Heart and his family.

Even from afar, Naruto could hear the relatives in the yard mocking him and his family.

The family sat in Fourth Uncle's carriage as he gave them a ride home.

Silence enveloped the inside of the carriage. Iron Heart's father quietly sighed. It'd be false to say that he wasn't disappointed, but Iron Heart was still his son. He finally broke the silence. "Iron Heart, this is nothing, alright? When I was forced out of the house before, I was much more despondent than you, yet I still persevered. Listen to your father. Go home and study. Strive towards a good result in next year's district exam. If you don't feel like reading, go relax with your fourth uncle."

Iron Heart's mother gave her son a loving look and consoled him. "Iron Heart, don't do anything stupid. You're my only son. If anything happens to you, I wouldn't want to live anymore. You have to be strong." As she was talking, tears rolled down her face.

Naruto looked at his parents. He nodded and said, "Father, mother, rest assured. I will not do anything silly. Don't worry, I have a plan."

Iron Heart's mother embraced him. While holding him in her arms she said, "Iron Heart, it's over. We will forget about this matter."

In his mother's warm embrace, Iron Heart's wounded heart was slowly healing. He felt exhausted after the events of the last few days. As the carriage bounced up and down, Iron Heart slowly drifted into sleep.

He saw a dream. He dreamt that he was an immortal, flying in the sky with his parents….

When Iron Heart woke up, it was late at night. He sighed lightly as he looked around at the familiar room. His heart was resolute. Before he left the house, he took a long, deep look at his sleeping parents. He picked up a pen and paper, and wrote a letter. After taking enough dry food, he was on his way.

"I will not give up on the path to becoming an immortal. I must try to join Konoha Sect one more time! If they still won't accept me, I must at least find the location of other immortal sects." Naruto's eyes were filled with resolve as he left the mountain village, carrying only a bag.

With the moonlight paving the road and stars marking his direction, Naruto made his way forward, only his long shadow for company.

Three days have passed. Naruto was walking on a remote mountain road. He had opened his eyes back when the young immortal was holding him. He could still recall the general direction.

Heading east, Naruto ignored the weeds that were cutting both his legs. He kept moving forward.

After a week, he had already entered the inner parts of the mountains. Fortunately, there were no man-eating beasts here. Naruto pursued his path carefully. Today, when he looked up, he was finally able to see the familiar misty peaks on an isolated hill top.

Iron Heart was completely exhausted at this point. He took out some dried food and took a few bites while staring at the Heng Yue sect's entrance. The hairs on the back of Naruto's neck stood up as he heard a wild animal breathing behind him. He looked back and all the color instantly drained from his face.

A large white tiger with blood-red eyes made the air feel dense. Drops of saliva dripped out of the corner of its mouth, producing dripping sounds as they hit the ground.

The white tiger roared as it pounced. Naruto revealed a bitter smile, and without hesitation jumped off the side of a cliff. He felt the wind on his face as he plummeted down. He couldn't help but remember the looks in his parent's eyes, as well as all the relatives that taunted him.

"Father, Mother, your son didn't listen to you. This is goodbye."

The wall of the cliff was covered in a myriad of branches. Iron Heart's body was getting cut by the branches as he dropped at breakneck a speed. A few moments later, in the middle of the drop, Iron Heart felt an enormous force pulling him.

Naruto had no control of his body as the force pulled him. Before he knew it, he was inside a cave that had been carved onto the wall of the cliff. He felt great force constantly pulling his body against the wall, after a long time the force finally disappeared and he fell down from the wall.

It took him a long time to regain his senses. As Iron Heart struggled to get back up, he noticed his clothes were torn and his body had gotten scraped all over by the branches. Pain came flooding in from his swollen right arm. Large drops of sweat streamed down, sticking to every part of his body. Naruto touched his arm, but he couldn't tell if the bones were broken. This injury was definitely sustained when he hit the wall.


	3. Chapter 3

Iron Heart was pale as he got up and looked around. He found that he was in a small natural cave. The sunlight peered in through the entrance of the cave, revealing a floor covered with the bones of birds and animals.

On the wall behind him was a black hole the size of a fist. He couldn't tell how deep this little hole was, but on closer inspection one mystery was solved. The pulling force that sucked him into the cave earlier came from this hole. The animals that those scattered bones had belonged to were sucked in just like he had been.

The suction from the hole must be spontaneous. The moment he appeared in front of this cave during his fall, the mysterious hole pulled him in and saved his life. Iron Heart, enduring the agony of his right arm, was about to walk out of the cave when the bones on the ground suddenly started moving toward the hole. He quickly rolled to the corner of the cave without a moment's delay as he felt the wind behind him.

The unimaginable sucking force suddenly came from the little hole. All the bones rattled as they flew toward the hole. Some of the bigger bones were stuck on the wall blocking, the little hole.

At that moment, a bird was sucked in as it flew by the cave's entrance. It whizzed through the air until it splattered against the cave wall.

After about an hour, the force stopped pulling. Naruto stared in horror at the corpse of the recently deceased bird. He didn't move his body at all, only sat still, while calculating the time.

Half an hour later, the suction started again. This repeated several times. Naruto had grasped the timing of the strange suctioning hole. It would start sucking every 30 minutes for a duration of 60 minutes.

Taking advantage of the time gap between suctions, Naruto painfully crept towards the cave entrance. As he looked below, he couldn't help but reveal a bitter smile. Below him was a jungle, and the barely visible ground was covered with rocks. The cliff was very steep, there was no way for him to climb down with his broken arm. The distance from the ground measured more than a few dozen meters. If he tried to jump down, it would definitely be the end.

The bag filled with food was left at the top of the mountain with no way for him to retrieve it. Right now food was the most important problem he needed to solve. As he was pondering, he suddenly remembered the suction time and rushed back to the corner of the cave.

Time in the outside world seemed to pass by quickly. Naruto could feel his body grow weaker and weaker. He had no feeling in his arm, it was completely numb. He smiled bitter as he said to himself, "Being stuck here means a slow death, but jumping down would be instant death."

He looked at the bloody corpse of the bird that was sucked in earlier. With a bit of hesitation, he walked over, picked it up, and reluctantly took a bite. The taste was appalling. He exhaled as the raw meat in his mouth flooded his senses, but then continued to eat it.

He barely chewed the meat, opting to just swallow it nearly whole. Iron Heart felt warmth enter his stomach as it churned. He ate the bird quickly in big bites, then he stood up and took a deep breath to keep himself from puking it all out.

He tossed the remains of the bird to the side and sat down against the cave wall. His mind wandered, one moment thinking about his parents, one moment thinking of his fourth uncle, one moment thinking about the mocking faces of his relatives, and one moment he even thought about the cold eyes of the middle aged man in black from the Konoha Sect.

In a trance, Naruto looked at the half eaten bird corpse. Without batting an eye, he picked up the corpse for a closer inspection. He saw that within the bird's corpse there was a red bead the size of a baby's first. He was very surprised as he took it out of the carcass.

Why was there a bead in this bird's body? Naruto's heart was pounding as he thought of a book the teacher in his village had once shown him. Some animals live to be much older, and that something called a dantian will form within their body.

If one were to eat a dantian, their life would be prolonged, and their strength would increase. Even limbs that had been cut off would grow back.

When he saw that description, he didn't believe it, and secretly scoffed at it, but now he couldn't help but to believe in myths and legends a little more after meeting immortals.

Naruto's heart was pounding hard enough to fly out of his chest. If this bead was really the dantian described in the book, then eating it would not only heal his injuries quickly, but it would also make it easy to leave this place. Even passing the test to join the Konoha Sect should be possible, at least he would be able to pass the perseverance test.

But the bead was very hard. It didn't seem edible. He used some of the ragged cloth on his body to wipe it clean, restoring its original color.

A gray bead, with five clouds carved on it, was revealed. It looked very old. Naruto was very disappointed, unwilling to give up, he gave the bead a bite, then silently laughed at himself. "Iron Heart, you are too delusional. How could some random bird that just happened to fly by have a dantian?"

Naruto sighed. It was already dark outside. He felt weary and fell asleep with the bead by his side and animal bones covering the floor.

Since it is fall right now, the temperature dropped very quickly, especially in the mountain area. The cold air entered Naruto's body. He curled up, and the night passed by quickly.

The next morning, sunlight peered in from the outside of the cave as the sun rose. A few drops of sparkling dew secreted from the bead by Naruto's side. As the dew gathered, it dripped on to the bones nearby.

After a while, Naruto woked up. Not only was his arm still swollen, its condition seemed to have gotten worse. Naruto sat on the floor, feeling very depressed.

Naruto muttered to himself, "Am I going to be stuck here my whole life?" He slowly turned his head and noticed the dew that accumulated on the bones. Since he was thirsty, he carefully picked up a few bones and licked the dew off them.

The sweetness of the dew was quite good. He couldn't tell if he was imagining it, but his whole body felt warm and comfortable after drinking some.

Especially the injury on his arm. There was feeling of comfort and itching as the swelling lessened. Naruto rubbed his eyes, and closely looked at his arm. The swelling had indeed gone down. He quickly looked at the bones around him but wasn't able to find any more with dew on them.

At that moment, he suddenly noticed the bead and saw drops of dew on it. He remembered that all the bones that had dew on them were next to the bead. He gently picked up the bead, with his heart pounding, and rolled the bead on his arm to evenly spreading out the dew.

Waves of cool and refreshing feelings came from the arm. Naruto stared at his arm without batting an eye. After a while his eyes lit up. The swelling from the arm had gone down. He tried waving his arm. While there was still some pain, it wasn't a big deal.

"This stone bead must be a treasure!" Naruto was pleasantly surprised.

For the next few days, Naruto relied on the birds that were sucked into the cave and splattered on the wall for food. He spent most of his time carefully observing the stone bead. Every time dew appeared, he would smear it on his arm. He did this until his arm was fully recovered. He knew this dew was extremely valuable, so he collected some in the skull of a bird.

On this day, he sprinkled the dew he had been collecting throughout the past few days on a piece of cloth and carefully warped the bead in it. After making sure it wouldn't fall off, he arrived at the entrance to the cave when the suction force stopped. He used his teeth to tear apart his clothes and tied them together, then tied one end to a rock and the other around his waist and slowly climbed down.

Naruto had climbed down about five or six meters when his hand slipped. His body dropped quickly, but luckily his clothes were tough and gave him time to swing toward the cliff and grab onto a branch before the cloth tore.

Cold sweat glistened on Naruto's forehead. When he looked down, he estimated that he was still 20 meters up. With one hand, he grabbed a branch and with the other hand he grabbed the the cloth and tied the cloth on to the branch, Only then did he feel relieved.

He carefully moved back toward the cliff edge and then started to descend again. When he was 10 meters from the ground, the cloth had stretched to its limit, Naruto jumped down without a second thought.

His clothes couldn't bear the weight and began to split apart, but still help lighten the fall. Naruto felt the wind caress his face on the way down, as well as branches breaking under him, slowing down his fall. He positioned his body just right as he landed, toes pointing downward, and rolled into a ball as he touched the ground.

The ground felt like a stone knife that pierced his body, creating various deep cuts, especially a cut on this leg. It was so deep that you could see the bones.

Naruto, with blurry vision, gasped for breath. He struggled to put the cloth that was around his neck that contained the bead into his mouth and sucked some dew that was in the cloth. After a while, he struggled to sit up and, with trembling hands, took the cloth and squeezed it above the wound on his leg as a few drops of dew came out.

A cool feeling emitted from the place the wound was. After having done all this, Naruto fell to the ground and prayed for no beasts to attack him before he recovered.

At that a moment, he heard a shout from the distance.

"Iron Heart, where are you?"

Naruto was stunned. He listened closely and realized that it was his dad's voice. Without time to think, he used all the strength left in his body to shout, "Dad! I'm here!"

A rainbow approached from the distance, it circle around the cliff near Naruto for a while then descended. A sword of light came down and dissipated, revealing a Konoha Sect disciple with Naruto's father in his arm, frowning at Naruto.

When Iron Heart's father saw his son, he immediately burst into tears. He ran up to Naruto and hugged him. While crying he said, "Iron Heart, what were you thinking? Why did you have to be so stubborn? Have you ever thought about how your parents would live if you died?"

Naruto was stunned. After thinking about it, he realized his dad misunderstood, and thought that he was trying to commit suicide. After looking at himself and seeing how battered his body was, he couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh.

The Konoha Sect disciple, surname Shino, gazed over Naruto. He looked to the cliff above and saw the clothes that had been torn earlier. With a few leaps, he climbed up until he reached the cave. He felt a force try to suck him in and showed a surprised expression. However, he quickly recovered and jumped down like the force was no big deal. He said, lowly, "Your kid wanted to suicide but was saved by this natural suction force from the cave. Now that Naruto has been found, let's go back to the sect and have the elder make a decision."

The Konoha Sect disciple rolled his sleeves, grabbed the father son duo, and quickly left that place. After a while, they arrived at the foot of the mountain of the Konoha Sect, then climbed the steps and approached the peak.

Coming back here like this caused Naruto to have mixed feelings. At the peak, there were many people with ugly expressions. The disciple Shino quickly went up to one of them and whispered something. The old man's brow wrinkled and said with a cold voice. "Since the person was found, send him to the guest room to reunite him with his mother."

In the room, when Naruto's mother saw her son, she immediately burst into tears and ran up to hug him. After hearing from his parents he finally knew what was going on.

When he ran away from home, his parents returned to the Uzumaki family to find his fourth uncle. The three of them feared for his safety, so they went to find Menma's father. With the pressure of his fourth uncle, Menma's father reluctantly got the family members to help ask the Konoha Sect to help.

This is the first time the Konoha Sect has encountered something like this opted to ignore it at first. However, the reason why Naruto ran away from home was due to not being accepted into the Konoha Sect. Although the Konoha Sect didn't care about the life and death of a mortal, if he were really to die and the news of it spread to the villages nearby, parents won't want their kids to try to enter the sect. Concerned about the future, they sent out a few disciples to search the area. Naruto's father was still worried so he followed them.

And that's what caused the scene before him.

After a while, someone sent in some medicine. Iron Heart's mother hastily thanked the the person who delivered it, and carefully fed it to her son. This was indeed medicine produced by an immortal sect. The effect was extremely good. After drinking it, Naruto felt that he had recovered quite a lot, and his wound began to ache a lot less.

Naruto's parents were unceasingly bestowing words of comfort upon him. He wanted to explain everything to them, but he was unsure if they would believe him.

At that moment, in a Konoha Sect hall, several elders were sitting around listening to the disciple Shino describe how he found Naruto. At the end of the long table, a red faced man said disgruntledly, "What does the life and death of a mortal have to do with an immortal like me. Look at the other immortal schools, which of them are like us who send people to find a kid who tried to suicide because he wasn't selected. This is shameful!."

Next to him, a middle aged man with a cold face said, "What elder Asuma said is correct. In all the sects within the state of Konoha, only our Konoha Sect is like this. But if that kid really died in our mountain range, parents will fear their children would all try to suicide if they were rejected. Then, who would dare to send us their children?"

An old man in robe took a sip of tea and said slowly, "In reality, isn't it because our Konoha Sect has declined that we must select disciples that are suitable for cultivation from mortals? If it was 500 years ago, who would care what the mortals think?"

Finally, an old man full of wrinkles sighed and said, "If this youth tried to suicide once, he could try to suicide again. Bah, to prevent this issue from continuing let us just make an exception and accept him as a disciple." After he finished speaking, he gave a side glance to the middle aged man.


	4. Chapter 4

The red faced old man frowned with dissatisfaction and said, "elder Ebisu, is our Konoha Sect really going to sink so low? To make an exception for the life and death of a mortal?

elder Ebisu open his eyes and said with a cold voice, "elder Asuma, the patriarch told me to handle this matter. If it's not handled properly, and this piece of trash attempts suicide a second time and his parents spread that we forced their kid to suicide, isn't that more embarrassing? If you are willing to take responsibility on this matter, then I'll let you handle it."

The middle aged man quickly tried to make peace and said, "There is no need to argue. Why don't we let him become a disciple first, then after 8 or 10 years, when he fails to keep cultivating, we can send him back and there will be no problem."

The old man in robe responded, "If other youths follow suit, what will we do?"

The middle aged man chuckled and said, "This is an easy task. After this, we have learned our lesson. When we fail people in the future, we should instill in the idea of not suiciding and that would solve this problem. As for this Naruto, since the matter is already this big, let us just take him as a disciple. One extra disciple doesn't matter."

Aside from elder Ebisu, two other elders looked thoughtfully at the middle aged man, not saying a word.

The middle aged man smiled and thought, "Oh Naruto, Naruto. I have helped all I can. I have repaid you for the piece of metal your fourth uncle has given me. I'm really curious how a mortal managed to get his type of material."

What the middle aged man didn't know was that Naruto's fourth uncle had bought it from a blacksmith. He had seen many things, and as soon as he saw it, he knew it wasn't normal. This time, to let Iron Heart join the Konoha Sect, he brought it out. As for what the metal was used for, he didn't know.

A piece of metal changed Naruto's fate. When the news reached Naruto, he couldn't believe it. He was somehow accepted as a disciple for no apparent reason.

Two days later, he saw his parents off from the Heng Yue sect. After seeing the joy on his parents faces, he decided to seriously cultivate here.

However, his way of thinking was changed after his parents left. He was secretly called to the place where disciples get their work assigned and saw a shifty looking youth. The youth's face was full of contempt. He looked at him and laughed. "So you are Naruto, the kid that got to be a disciple by suiciding?"

Naruto silently looked at the youth challenging him. The youth sneered, "Boy, starting tomorrow morning you come to me for work. Your job is to fetch water, no less than ten vats a day. If you can't finish the work, then no food for you, and if you continue for 7 days then I'll tell the elders to kick you out of the sect. These are your clothes. Remember, honorary disciples can only wear gray. Once you are a true disciple, you will be assigned other colors." After he finished talking, he tossed the clothes to Naruto and closed his eyes.

Naruto picked up his clothes and asked, "Where do I live?"

The youth didn't even open his eyes and casually said, "Go north until you see a row of houses. Give your badge to the disciple there and they will give you a room."

Naruto left and headed north to the houses. The youth opened his eyes and said, with disdain, "To rely on suicide to join, he really is a waste!"

While walking in the Konoha Sect, Naruto saw many disciples wearing gray uniforms in a hurry with pale and cold faces. Some had tools in their hands and they were all rushing about.

After going straight for a while, he saw a row of houses. There were a lot more disciples in gray here, but they hardly talked to each other.

After he gave his badge to the yellow-clothed disciple that was in charge, the youth impatiently pointed to a room.

Naruto had already gotten used to the cold expressions of all the people here. He got to his room and opened the door. It was a large room with two wooden beds, a table, and two chairs. They were all very clean and were about as new as the furniture at his house.

He picked the bed that looked vacant. He placed his luggage down and laid in his bed. Although he had gotten into the Konoha Sect, it wasn't what he was expecting. He thought that he was going to learn immortal techniques, but it seemed like his job was to fetch water.

Thinking about this, he sighed and touched the stone bead in front of his chest. This was the treasure he had acquired. Naruto had read many books and he knew the danger of exposing it, as many people would aim for this treasure.

A short while later, night fell and an extremely tired youth in gray opened the door and entered. He was stunned when he saw Naruto, then proceeded to pass out on his bed without saying a word.

Naruto didn't care. He knew that he had to wake up early. He touched his stomach, then took out some sweet potatoes. His parents brought them for him to eat when they went out searching for him, and since he was accepted, his parents gave all the remaining food to him.

The sweet potato was very sweet. As Naruto was eating, the youth woke up and eyed the sweet potato. While his mouth watered, he said in a low voice, "Can I have a piece?"

Naruto took out a few pieces and said, "I have a lot here. If you'd like, have some more."

The youth quickly picked up the food and scarfed it down, then went over to the table and poured himself a glass of water. He exclaimed, "Damn it! I haven't eaten anything in two days. So what's your name?"

Naruto said his name. The youth suddenly laughed and said, "So you are Naruto, the trash that entered the Konoha Sect by attempting suicide..." He suddenly realized what he had done and said, "Brother, my name is Sora. To tell you the truth, there is no one in the sect that doesn't know about you, so please don't blame me for what I said before. In fact, I admire you for being able to enter the sect this way."

Naruto laughed bitterly. He didn't try to explain and passed over a few pieces of sweet potato.

Sora quickly accepted it and took a few bites, then said, " Naruto, you better leave some of it for yourself. You are new here. Who knows what evil things that yellow weasel will try to do. Damn it, he doesn't even treat us like humans."

"Weasel?" Naruto was stunned. The first person he thought of that might fit the description was the yellow cloth disciple that laughed at him, however, he wasn't sure.

"Ah? Did you not see him? He's the man responsible for organizing the work of the disciple. He is also an honorary disciple but has been given right to start his cultivation. Wearing yellow clothes, he doesn't look like a good guy at all. We all call him weasel." Sora explained as he drank water.

Naruto took a bite of a sweet potato, then said, "I know who it is, I saw him today. He told me to bring back 10 vats of water a day starting tomorrow or else I won't get any food."

Sora was stunned. After staring at Naruto for a bit, he asked, "Brother, did you offend him before?"

Naruto shook his head and asked, "Why?"

Sora showed Naruto a pitiful expression. "Naruto, are you thinking that the vats are like the ones you use at home? Like this big?" He gestured with his hands

Naruto had a bad feeling and nodded.

Sora had a bitter smile. He said, "You must have offended the yellow weasel. The vats he is talking about is the size of this room, filling up ten vats… Naruto I won't eat these sweet potatoes, you keep them. You'll be lucky to get food every 4 to 5 days. You are new here, and all the foraging spots in the mountain are taken. Only the elder disciples can pick them. Tomorrow, I'll just eat my wild fruits." He placed the remaining sweet potatoes on the table, sighed, laid down on his bed, and fell asleep.

Naruto felt rage surge through him, but then he thought of his parents eyes filled with expectations and forced down his rage. He laid down on the bed asleep full of rage.

It was still dark on the second day when Naruto climbed out of bed. Sora was still snoring. Naruto put on his gray outfit and quickly made his way to the place he had met the weasel. Soon after he arrived, the sun emerged from the east. Yellow-clad youths opened the doors and gave Naruto weird looks. "At least you are on time. Get a bucket and head out east. There is a spring in the mountain, carry water from there."

He paid no more attention to Naruto. He sat cross-legged on the ground and breathed slowly while facing the sun rise. A barely visible white mist came from his nose, rolling like two dragons.

Naruto eyed him with envy. He then walked into the room and looked around. Finally, behind a door he saw the 10 vats and let out a bitter smile as he walked toward the east gate.

Naruto arrived at the location after a long walk. The scenery was quite beautiful and the sound of running water was soothing. It was a place that could sooth the heart.

He had no time to appreciate the beauty. When the bucket was full, he picked it up and quickly went back up the mountain.

Naruto kept doing this until dusk. He hadn't even filled one vat yet. If it wasn't for the sweet potatoes filling his stomach, he wouldn't have the strength to continue. His arms and legs were sore and numb. They hurt whenever he moved.

Naruto pondered a while, then carried away half a bucket of water to a deserted area. He looked around to make sure no one was in the vicinity. He dropped the stone bead into the bucket and sloshed it around a bit. Then he took out the bead and drank the water. He immediately felt a warmth in his stomach, and the muscle pain disappeared.

Although the effect was inferior to the dew's, Naruto was still excited. He touched his chest and adjusted the position of the bead. He decided to not let anyone know of this treasure.

After he finished drinking half a bucket of water, his muscles were no longer sore and he felt full of energy. He quickly continued his job of fetching water.

That night, he dipped the stone bead in another half bucket of water and drank it. To avoid suspicion, he came back with a weary look on his face.

A while later, Sora came back. He still wore that overworked expression on his face. The two talked for a bit and Sora hesitantly begged for two pieces of sweet potato. He ate them and fell asleep on his bed.

Time passed by quickly, and in the blink of an eye, a month had passed since Naruto became a Konoha Sect disciple.

Naruto found out that Sora's job was to collect firewood. He must collect enough firewood before he could eat. He had been collecting firewood the entire three years since he became an honorary disciple of the Konoha Sect. Three years ago, he would only eat once every three or four days, but now he has shortened it to where he could eat once every two days.

According to him, the honorary disciples are to do chores for ten years and be able to eat three meals a day before they can learn even the most basic cultivation.

The inner disciples are not like them. They have their own master, do not do any chores, and have their own rooms. Their only job is to cultivate.

In addition, there is a person in between the inner disciples and the honorary disciples, such as Udon who became a help, but he's basically a servant.

These people do not need to do chores, and also practice some low-level techniques. They only need to complete the work their master assigns them. However, these people possessed very little talent and they would just spend their whole lives being helpers.

As for the so called talent, Naruto learned from Sora that it was simply spiritual energy. Everyone has it, but in varying amounts. If one has enough spiritual energy, they can learn an immortal technique in a year, but if lacking, it would taken dozens or even hundreds of years.

A man's life is limited. Someone with mediocre talent will never get anywhere in his lifetime. That is why the sect put such large important on spiritual energy.

This month, when Naruto was fetching water, he drank a lot of water that the stone bead had been soaked in, causing his body to become much stronger. Before, it would take him six days to fill the 10 vats, now it only took three.

However, in order to keep others from being suspicious, Naruto always got up before sunrise and leisurely walked toward the mountain with the bucket. While others were surprised he was able to finish within three days, they thought it was because he wake up extra early and went to sleep late.

This month, almost all of the honorary disciples came to know Naruto. All of them carried arrogant looks on their faces and talked viciously to him.

Naruto ignored them. He knew that all these honorary disciples' minds were twisted. Before he came, all the honorary disciples were at the bottom. They had nowhere to vent their anger and frustration. However, now that he, who entered the sect by attempting suicide was here, they viewed him as someone even lower than them and vented by bullying him.

He laughed coldly to himself. He knew that this was not something he could do anything about. In the sect, the strong were always right. Some of the honorary disciples had been here for a long time, and their bodies were all very strong. Some had even learned some immortal technique. If he were to fight back, he was bound to lose.

However, Naruto wasn't a complete pushover. He remembered the faces of all those disciples that looked down upon him and planned to take revenge when he becomes strong enough.

With this mindset, he acted like he was blind and deaf, and continued to fetch water every day, while secretly studying the stone bead.

He experimented by soaking the beads in various liquids. He tried mixing the dew and dipping the bead in spring water, sweat, and even blood. In the end, he found that the dew was the best by far.

But there were different types of dew. The dew that appeared on the bead in the morning was the best, followed by the dew that appeared on the bead at night. If the dew was collected anywhere else, it was not as effective.

Next best was when it was mixed with spring water. Blood and sweat were the worst, they had almost no effect at all.

In order to not attract any attention, he found some small gourds in the wild and hollowed them to hold some of the dew.

He did not carry these gourds with him. Instead, he would hide them separately in remote locations. He would only take them out when he was fetching water and never took them back to the sect.

He carried a gourd with him when he worked. Whenever he became tired, he would take a drink and instantly feel refreshed.

In addition, Naruto found out about a strange phenomenon. Whenever the night or early morning dew appeared on the stone bead, it would look like there were many drops of dew on the bead, but when collecting them, he could only get about one tenth of that amount. The rest disappeared.

As for this strange phenomenon, Naruto could only say that the dew was absorbed by the bead. Although his explanation was a bit absurd, he really couldn't think of anything else.

Today at dusk, Naruto filled the remaining three vats and said to the yellow clothed disciple while he was meditating, "brother Sasuke, I'm going to take a trip home so I won't be coming tomorrow."

The youth Sasuke opened his eyes and looked at Naruto, then snorted.

Naruto didn't care. He learned from Sora that an honorary disciple can return home to visit relatives three times a year. All he had to do was ask elder Iruka for permission.

Naruto remembered that his father's birthday was coming up. No matter what, he must go back. After finishing his chore, he walked toward the elder in charge of the honorary disciples.

Konoha Sect was split into six academies that were split into five subdivisions. They were metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, each with their own honorary disciples. The inner disciples and elders all lived in the main courtyard. He would often pass by them when he fetched water. He always looked at them with eyes filled with envy. After arriving there, he took a good look around, then yelled, "Honorary disciple Naruto requests for elder Iruka."

A young man dressed in white casually walked forward. He looked at Naruto once and said proudly, "You are Naruto?"

Seeing the youth dressed in white, Naruto's heart tightened as he nodded.

He already knew all the Konoha Sect disciples were ranked by the color they wore. Honorary disciples were divided into gray and yellow. The yellows were given the right to start cultivating immortal technique. Inner disciples were ranked based on their strength. From high to low are purple, black, white and red.

The youth in white's mouth twitched and he gave Naruto a cold look before turning around and walking back into the courtyard. Naruto followed behind him with a deadpan face.

After walking through the courtyard for a while, he arrived at a house surrounded by flowers. The youth in white lazily said, "Teacher Iruka, an honorary disciple is here to see you."

After he finished speaking, he stood off to the side.

A hoarse voice came from the garden. "You may leave, honorary disciple come in."

The youth in white chuckled and left.

Naruto was very nervous inside. He pushed open the gate to the garden. The moment he entered the garden, he was hit by the aroma of various medicines. He turned around and looked at the gate, wondering why he couldn't smell it outside.

A voice with discontent came from a corner room in the garden saying, "What are you doing standing there? Hurry up and say your name."

Naruto quickly said, "Disciple Naruto here to meet elder Iruka. My dad's birthday is tomorrow, this disciple wishes to return home for a visit."

The voice scolded, "You are Naruto? So it was you. Hmph, a person training to be an immortal caring about worldly affairs? In your lifetime, you will never become an immortal!"

Naruto frowned and couldn't help but say, "Disciple hasn't even cultivated any immortal technique, how could disciple be on the path to an immortal?"

The elder paused for a while and impatiently said, "You have three days, so return quickly. This is an thousand mile immortal talisman that can be used twice. It will increase your speed greatly." Then, an ordinary looking piece of dull yellow paper floated out from the window and landed next to Naruto.

Naruto picked up the immortal talisman. He knew from Sora that all the disciples that visit home receive this. The goal of the sect was very simple: show off the sect's immortal technique and treasures to attract more youths to apply.

This immortal talisman was in fact of very poor quality, however, the upside was that it was very easy to use. All you had to do was stick it on your leg. For normal people, it increased their speed.

However, there were many honorary disciple that collected them because they heard they could be traded for other things in the outside world. Many disciples used the excuse of going back home just to collect the talismans.

After walking out of the courtyard, Naruto headed back to his room. After saying goodbye to Sora, he started to descend from the mountain.

At this time, the stars were shining in the sky. Naruto wanted to head home tomorrow, but he didn't want to use the talisman and was afraid he'd miss his dad's birthday, so he headed out at night.

Shortly after Naruto left, elder Iruka came out from his room to gather some herbs, but was abruptly stunned. He stared at the gate entrance. All the blue grass that had been growing there had withered.

He walked closer. Under careful inspection, he noticed that even the purple flowers across from the blue grass had withered, but not as badly as the blue grass.

He clearly remembered that the herbs were still healthy and strong at noon. How could they become like this in just one afternoon? He picked up the blue grass and inspected it. From the look of the blue grass, it seemed to have lost all its moisture, causing it to wilt. He touched the ground, but the ground was at the correct moisture for growing herbs. He was very confused.

After a while, he suddenly thought, "This afternoon only one person visited me. However, he is only an honorary disciple, how could he cause the herbs to wither?"

Thinking about it, he decided to look into this matter. Without saying a word, he flicked his sleeves and his body started flying. Shortly after, he arrived at the place honorary disciples got their work assigned.

elder Iruka shouted in a deep voice, "Which disciple here is in charge?" The voice was like thunder. The yellow clothed disciple that was in charge quickly came over and kneeled on the ground, kowtowing non-stop.

elder Iruka impatiently said, "Do you have Naruto's registration?"

Disciple Sasuke's heart skipped a beat. He would never have thought that such a high ranking elder would ever come asking about that piece of trash, Naruto. He thought of the times he bullied Naruto and his face paled. "This disciple… has … has brother Naruto's registration. Brother Wang loves to learn and is always serious with this work. This disciple … this disciple has always looked to him as a role model."

The elder Iruka didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but in his heart he knew that this was good. The more nervous someone was when they talked to him meant the more they respected him. The title elder is in fact a really worthless title in the Konoha Sect. Almost all second generation disciples are called elder by the honorary disciples, but all the inner disciples call him Uncle-Master.

Although he was respected in the eyes of the honorary disciples, he didn't have power in the second generation. Even the third generation didn't respect him much.

Else he wouldn't be assigned the pointless job of managing the requests of honorary disciples wishing to visit home.

elder Iruka asked, "Which yard does Naruto live in?"

"At...at the northern Earth Division's yard..."

Without waiting for him to finish, elder Iruka flew away on a rainbow toward the north and disappeared in a blink of an eye.

Disciple Sasuke became even more nervous. His intestine almost turned green. He vowed that when he saw Naruto again, he must not ridicule him, but instead praise him treat him like his own grandfather. After all, he was something an elder personally asked about.

elder Iruka arrived at the Earth Division's yard and didn't see Naruto. He went to the registry to find Naruto's room number, then arrived at Naruto's room. Sora was still sleeping. He was snoring loudly and didn't even realize elder Iruka was there.

elder Iruka carefully examined the room. He frowned and muttered, "He left very quickly. Hmm, I'll inspect him once he is back."

Naruto was walking in the mountain with the talisman on his leg. The talisman was really amazing. After putting it on his leg, he felt a stream of warmth fill his body. Gathered at his feet were dazzling white light, making him look like an immortal.

When all the creatures in the mountain saw the white light, they all stayed away. None dare to come close.

The fresh mountain air blew at Naruto's face. He was in a good mood as he quickly went home following the route from his memory.

One night had passed, and it was the dawn of the next day. He took a mouthful of water from the gourd and was filled with energy again. He noticed he had already left the mountain. Once he reached the village, he would just have to follow the little road back home.

Without stopping, he rapidly went forward. He entered a town when the sun was bright and the crowd was hustling and bustling. Naruto went around for a bit, buying gifts for his parents, then quickly left.

When it was late, Naruto finally reached the village. He saw from afar a red flag with the word life on it in front of his house.

Outside, there were many wagons. There was a bustling crowd.

Naruto was stunned as he arrived at the front of his house. His arrival was too flashy. His relatives, who were here for his father's birthday, only saw a flash of white light as Naruto appeared.

Everyone had a look of envy as they started their praises.

"Second brother, Naruto came back. Just look at how handsome this kid is! He looks just like an immortal!"

"Isn't it just so? Even the Immortals messed up and ended up regretting their decision and took Naruto as their disciple. In the future, our Uzumaki family will depend on these three children."

"It was due to my old eyes that I wasn't able to see this kid's good points, but looking at him now, what part of him can't compare to Menma and Udon? Clearly a dragon amongst men! Good, good, good!" Exclaimed Uzumaki family's 3rd eldest uncle, as if he forgot all the vile things he had said before.

"This kid, Naruto, has always been smart since he was a kid. I have to say, even the immortals made a mistake last time, so how could us mortals not make a mistake? Naruto I hope you don't hate your fifth uncle, your fifth uncle apologizes to you."

All the relatives changed their expressions and revealed kind and smiling faces.

Naruto coldly snorted to himself. At that moment, his father appeared and was surprised as he pulled Naruto's arm. "Iron Heart, why did you come back? Didn't I tell you to stay at the Konoha Sect? Don't always worry about home."

Naruto looked at his dad and saw his dad's wrinkles had lessened a lot. He was obviously very happy these days. "Dad, don't you worry. All the disciples of the sect have three chances to visit home a year. Once your birthday is over, I'll quickly head back."

Naruto's dad proudly looked at the relatives around him and pulled Naruto to the door yelling, "Wife, look who is back!"

Naruto's mother was surround by a group of female relatives. When she heard her husband's voice, she looked toward him and was surprised to see Naruto. She rushed over and started asking about how he had been.

Naruto felt warmth in his heart. For the past month, he had to get used to people deriding him. Now that he was back home, he felt the warmth of his parents.

"Second brother, Naruto is really an immortal disciple. Your sixth brother is blind and said a few harsh words. I hope brother won't take it too serious. You know me, I have a sharp tongue, but a soft heart. It was all for Naruto's own good."

"Second sister in law, when I told my daughter that I didn't betroth her, she panicked and said that she absolutely must marry your family's Iron Heart. Let us settle this marriage."

"Old Kombu, your fifth uncle is old. In the future, the Uzumaki family will depend on you guys. Your fifth uncle has always had an eye for your son. In my eyes, he is even more promising than your older brother's son."

Naruto's parents' faces were glowing. After the birthday party started, all the relatives praised Naruto non-stop. Even a few who drank too much started causing a ruckus about banding together to get back the inheritance Naruto's father deserved. Naruto's father only smiled, not taking it seriously. He knew far too well how these relatives were.

Naruto's father no longer cared about the things of the past. He just wanted Naruto to become better and better, nothing else.

After a lively day, when it was dusk, all of the relatives left. Naruto was looking at the gifts in the yard. His heart filled with emotion. He remembered reading from a book saying when one achieves success, those around him benefit as well. He finally understood those words.

That night, Naruto's parents asked him how his life at the sect was. Seeing the anticipation in his parents' eyes, he lied to them for the first time. He described to them how popular he was, and how he practiced immortal techniques. His parents listened in awe.

For his parents, no matter how harsh being an honorary disciple was, no matter how much people ridiculed him, he would endure it, because ever since he was little, he had never seen them this happy.

"It's only ten years, I'll endure!" Naruto secretly decided in his heart.

Naruto stayed at home and spent time with his parents for two days. On the third day, his parents and everyone in the village sent him off. He put the immortal talisman on his leg and left.

Even when he was far away, he could hear the voices of the villagers.

It was getting dark. The sky filled with dark clouds. There was thunder in the sky, and the high humidity caused mist to appear.

Naruto couldn't help but speed up. He arrived at the Konoha Sect at midnight, then went to lay in his bed. Sora was still snoring. Naruto tossed and turned, but couldn't fall asleep. In the middle of the night, thunder roared outside and a flash of lightning lit up the room. Naruto touched the bead next to his chest. When he went home, he had his mom make an inner pocket in his shirt.

Want Lin took out the stone bead and studied it in the light from the oil lamp. He rubbed his eyes as he took a close look at the cloud patterns on the bead.

"This isn't right. I remember that last time there were five clouds, but now there are six." Naruto was surprised, he sat up and counted. Indeed, there were six clouds.

He was very surprised and couldn't think of a reason. This increased his curiosity toward the stone bead. He put it back in his pocket, turned off the oil lamp, and went to sleep.

Outside, the wind was howling, thunder was roaring, lightning was striking, and rain was pouring from the sky. The rain slammed against the window. Naruto was suddenly awakened by a burst of cold air. He opened his eyes and was dumbfounded.

The continuous lightning lit up the room. The room was full of thick mist. The table, ground, and even the beds were wet. However, except for a damp spot where he stored the bead, Naruto was completely dry. He looked at Sora and saw that his body was surrounded by a white mist. His were clothes wet, his body was covered in frost, and his teeth were clenched shut.

"Sora! Sora!" Naruto was surprised and quickly got up and shook Sora. However, Sora showed no sign of waking up, and his breath was weak.

Naruto was very anxious. He was about to head out to look for other disciples for help, when he suddenly stopped and touched his clothes. A doubt raised in his mind.

"Why is it that even though we are in the same room, and both beds are soaked, every part of my body, except for this damp spot, is dry?" Naruto pondered, then suddenly took out the stone bead from his breast pocket.

At that moment, all of the water droplets trembled and slowly began to float. Even the white mist on Sora started to form water droplets.

Lightning flashed again and Naruto noticed that all the water droplets looked like crystals and charged toward the stone bead in his hand.

Naruto quickly threw the stone bead and dropped to the floor to avoid the water droplets.

The mysterious bead fell in an arc and rolled to the corner after it hit the ground. All the water droplets quickly shot toward the bead and disappeared into it.

A moment later, all the water in the room disappeared. Even the beds were now dry. Sora's breathing returned to normal.

After a long time, the thunderstorm still raged outside, but the sky was no longer pitch black, and rays of moonlight broke through. Naruto stood up and hesitantly picked up the stone bead. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that it had changed.

The number of clouds on it had increased to seven!

The scene before had caused his curiosity for the bead to increase, but also instilled a bit of fear into him. If he hadn't woken up in time, Sora would have been frozen to death.

As to why he himself wasn't affected, Naruto could only guess that it was because he drank a lot of water that had the dew from the bead mixed in.

However, Naruto was very curious about what the clouds on the stone bead do. But he eliminated the idea of going outside and letting the bead absorb more water. He was afraid the scene would cause everyone to notice.

After hesitating for a while, he carefully put the bead back into his pocket. Not long after, dawn came and as Naruto was about to leave to do his chore when Sora jumped out of bed screaming, "Water! Water! The thirst is killing me!"

Sora ran to the table in a daze. He tried to pour a cup of water from the container for a long time, but not a single drop came out. He rubbed his eyes and saw the bedding was crumpled into a ball, then he stared at Naruto and said, "Naruto, when did you come back? This...did a ghost do this?"

Naruto smiled, then he opened the door and said, "I don't know. When I got back, it was already like this. Why don't you try asking the other disciples? However, if this gets to the elders, you would have to go through the trouble of explaining this and possibly get interrogated by them."

Sora shook his head, and said, "Forget it, I won't ask. If I get questioned by the elders, it would be hard to avoid punishment."

Naruto didn't mind him and walked out the door. It was still raining outside, so he quickened his pace, afraid that the bead would cause some disturbance in the rain. He took a deserted path to the eastern gate. All the water that fell on him was absorbed by the bead, and he was afraid someone would notice. At first he wanted to hide it in his room, but then decided it was safer to hide it outside.

Naruto went to one of the places that he had previously hid a gourd containing dew. It was very early in the morning and not many people had awakened yet. He made sure no one followed him before burying the stone bead there.

After that, he let out a sigh. He intended to wait for the rain to stop, then come back to take his treasure back. Naruto left very cautiously, making sure no one else was around, and made his way to the chore house. When he got there, he was just about to pick up a bucket when the weasel faced yellow clothed disciple came out. Disciple Sasuke was a bit startled when he saw Naruto, but quickly changed his expression to one full of enthusiasm as he rushed forward to snatch the bucket from Naruto's grasp. He said, "If it isn't brother Wang! How was your trip home? Are your parents doing well? Your senior has missed you on these days you were gone."

Naruto was stunned, he was very familiar with that face. It was exactly same face his relatives had at the party, but Naruto wasn't sure what Disciple Sasuke was trying to do.

"brother Sasuke, my parents are doing well. You don't need to worry." Naruto carefully replied, as he wasn't sure what Liu was up to.

Disciple Sasuke warmly said, as he puffed his chest, "Brother, from now on you don't have to wake up so early. Your big brother was joking with you, telling you to fill ten vats a day, but you went and seriously believed me. From now on, you only need to fill one vat a day. Even if you don't finish in time, you can go eat when food is served. If anyone gives you any trouble, just tell your big brother!"

Naruto's face changed color. He hesitantly asked, "Big brother, is there some matter you wish for me to attend to?"

Disciple Sasuke's face was full of discontent, and pretended to be angry. "Little brother, how could you be so cold with your big brother? You are my little brother, naturally I should care for you. In the future, your issues are my issues. As for these chores, just do some work to say you worked. In the end, if you do good or bad is just my opinion. Since it's raining today you don't need to work. That's right elder Iruka came looking for you a few days ago. Now that your back, it's best to go check in with him." He finished speaking and watched Naruto's reaction carefully.

Naruto muttered to himself and kept from laughing out loud. In his heart, he had guessed more than half the story after listening to the Disciple Sasuke. elder Iruka must have come looking for him after he left, and Disciple Sasuke must be afraid of any grudge between them, that's why he is so friendly today. He didn't bother to point out the misunderstanding, and imitated what Disciple Sasuke did when they first met and snorted.

Disciple Sasuke's heart skipped when he saw Naruto's expression. This confirmed his own suspicion, this trash really was living the dream: to be able to get the attention of an elder. Otherwise, he wouldn't be so arrogant. This kid looked like one that would hold a grudge. He thought to himself, "He will definitely take revenge on me later."

Disciple Sasuke had been an honorary disciple for 13 years, and had spent 6 years at the chore house. He had never before seen an elder seeking out an honorary disciple personally. It was already a rare event for an inner disciple to be sent by an elder.

It wasn't that he hadn't considered the fact that Naruto had offended the elder, but it was only his speculation. However, he wasn't sure. It wouldn't be an issue if he was right, but he was scared of what would happen if he was wrong. He had been in the Konoha Sect for many years, and knew exactly how insignificant he was.

Thinking of this, he gritted his teeth and took out a piece of yellow paper, then handed it to Naruto. "Little brother, when senior brother saw you last month, I ignored you. This is just a little gift not worth anything. You have to accept it. If you don't …"

Before he could finish, Naruto had already grabbed the yellow paper. When he saw it earlier he noticed it was the immortal talisman used when honorary disciples go home.

"Thank you senior brother. This little brother doesn't want to be arrogant, but elder is waiting for me. We will have to catch up next time." Naruto said while chuckling.

brother Sasuke was a bit envious as he nodded. "The elder is more important, little brother should go quickly."

Naruto was calm on the surface, but on the inside, he had many doubts about elder Iruka. Why did he personally come looking for him? Naruto leisurely walked to the courtyard with these questions in his head. He had gone thoroughly analyzed the situation, but in the end, he couldn't come to a conclusion.

"Could he have found out about the stone bead?" Naruto thought. He pondered the question for a bit. He didn't have the ability to bribe the elder, and if he didn't go, he would offend the elder, so he might as well pretend he didn't know anything. Since the bead was not on him, he stopped thinking about it and walked forward.

Not long after he arrived at the courtyard and announced his presence, the same youth in white appeared and was surprised. He quipped, "What, you have to visit home again?"

Naruto raised his brow, right before he was about speak, elder Iruka's voice came from within the courtyard.

"Quickly, bring him here! Without delay!"

The disciple in white's mouth twitched. He gave Naruto a thoughtful look, then headed back into the courtyard. Naruto followed silently.

After arriving at elder Iruka's residence, the youth in white left. Before leaving, he shot Naruto a questioning look.

Naruto was a bit nervous as he pushed open the gate and entered. The moment he entered, he saw an old man coming out from a room in the garden. The old man's face was full of wrinkles, his were eyes bright, and he scanned Naruto with a cool look.


	5. Chapter 5

Under the elder's eyes, Naruto felt like he was transparent and the elder could see everything.

The elder frowned. He couldn't find anything abnormal about Naruto, then asked, "Naruto, when did you come back?"

Naruto's heart was still pounding from that one glance. He quickly replied, "This disciple came back late last night. This morning, when I went to do my daily chores, brother Sasuke told me Elder was looking for me."

elder Iruka's face was gloomy. Without a word, he grabbed Naruto. With a step, they disappeared in a rainbow colored cloud toward Naruto's room.

The speed was too fast. Naruto felt like he was suffocating, but luckily, the trip was very short. When they arrived at Naruto's room, elder Iruka tossed Naruto to the side and scanned the room with his Divine Sense.

"What's this?" elder Iruka moved next to Naruto's bed and found the gourd Naruto used to store spring water.

Naruto looked calm on the surface, but his heart skipped a beat and he quickly tried to find the right words to say.

elder Iruka studied it for a long time, then he turned to Naruto and asked, "Naruto, what did you store in this gourd?"

Naruto tried to play the fool and said, "Elder, this gourd is filled with spring water from the mountain. This spring water is really amazing. Every time I'm tired, all I have to do is drink some and I'll immediately feel refreshed. When I was little, I read a book telling me that everything the immortals use are good. I didn't expect even the spring water to be this amazing. Elder, if you want this spring water, there are ten vats full of it in the supply house. Each of those vats are the size of a house. That water was all fetched by me."

elder Iruka opened up the gourd and sniffed it. Suddenly, his expression changed, and he eagerly said, "Who asked you about the spring water? Quickly, tell me where you found this gourd!"

Naruto was stunned. He innocently asked, "Elder, what's wrong with the gourd? I saw it floating down the river when I went to fetch water. I thought it looked pretty good, so I fished it out of the water."

elder Iruka narrowed his eyes and gave Naruto a deep look. He touched the gourd and thought, "There is a large amount of spiritual energy within this gourd. If a mortal drank the water stored in this gourd, while they won't be able to absorb much of the spiritual energy, it would still refresh them. He doesn't seem to be lying. This gourd is a complete waste on him. If this was used to make immortal pills, the effect should be good."

There was a high chance that the death of the blue grass and the purple night flower had something to do with the gourd. Maybe they were natural enemies. This matter couldn't be certain without further testing.

Stopping his thoughts there, his expression suddenly changed and carefully looked at the gourd. He frowned and coldly stared at Naruto. "Naruto, you sure are bold. You dare to lie to an Elder? Looks like you don't want to stay in the Konoha Sect anymore!"

Naruto revealed a puzzled face. He quickly responded, "Elder, I'm not lying to you. There really are ten vats full of spring water in the supply house."

Without letting Naruto finish speaking, elder Iruka let out an angry laugh and said. "You're still acting innocent with me? I was asking you about the gourd. This gourd looks like it was just recently broken off its vine. Naruto, I'll give you one last chance to tell me where you got this gourd, or I'll kick you out of the Konoha Sect today!"

Naruto's face revealed an angry expression. His expression showed a will to fight and cried, "So what if I'm kicked out? Here at the Konoha Sect, all I have done is fetch water to fill those ten vats. Many times I stayed more than a week before I could eat. If it wasn't for the sweet potatoes my mom gave me, I would have starved to death already. This isn't cultivation, it's just torture!"

"I spent a lot of effort to fish that gourd out of the river. If you want it, just take it. Why say I am lying to you? What does the gourd still having its vine have to do with me? Maybe someone broke it off the vine and tossed it in the water. You question me, but who am I going to ask about it?"

elder Iruka looked at the remaining sweet potatoes, then looked at the gourd. He pondered a little and thought, "While I want this gourd, to steal an honorary disciple's treasure and then drive him away would be too disgraceful. It would be bad if news of this were to spread. My reputation would be ruined, and if other people in the sect were to find out about this gourd, I wouldn't be able to prevent them from taking it. This kid is still lying to me. There has to be more gourds like this. If I can get them all, my pill creation skill will go up by another level."

Thinking of this, he suddenly changed into a surprised expression and exclaimed, "You sure had it rough, kid. I didn't know that you didn't get to eat for a whole week. Now that I know of this issue, I'll deal with it. Even honorary disciples are still disciples of the Konoha Sect!"

After he finished talking, he noticed that Naruto was still angry. He coldly laughed to himself, but kindly said, "Naruto, I want this gourd, but I want to treat you properly. Do you want to be my helper?"

Naruto muttered. "I don't want to. Helper is the same as a servant. If my dad found out I that became a servant, he would beat me to death."

elder Iruka almost lost his temper. He wanted to beat him to death before Naruto's dad could. Although he was at the bottom of the second generation, if he said he was looking for a helper in the sect, all the honorary disciples would rush for the position.

Swallowing his anger, he yelled, "Fine! I'll accept you as my disciple. I'm going to go tell the patriarch right now. You pack your things, then come wait for me at my garden." After he finished speaking, he walked out of Naruto's room. With a step, a cloud appeared as he headed straight toward the patriarch.

When he left, Naruto's expression darkened. He sneered inwardly, "This old man has ulterior motives. On the surface, he accepted me as a disciple, but in reality, he just wants more gourds."

Naruto pondered this for a while, then chuckled. He only wanted some gourds. There were plenty of gourds in the mountain. He just had to soak some in some water with the bead. Now that there was an opportunity to become an inner disciple, he had to take this opportunity to cultivate properly.

After thinking about it, he became very excited. He packed his things and left a lot of sweet potatoes for Sora. He then started to walk toward elder Iruka's yard.

This time, he didn't announce his arrival and walked straight into the courtyard. The white clothed youth, who was sitting on top of a tree, didn't stop him. He already received the news that elder Iruka had accepted Naruto as a disciple. The youth laughed, saying to himself, "A trash master accepted a trash disciple. This is very fitting."

After waiting a while in the garden, elder Iruka came back with a dark expression. His face was full of anger. Earlier, when he talked to the patriarch about the matter, some of his apprentice-brothers ridiculed him. He thought, "Wait until I get all the gourds and create an immortal pill that will greatly increase my cultivation. Let's see who will be laughing then."

After entering the garden, elder Iruka saw Naruto and huffed, "Naruto, from today on, you are my, Iruka's, disciple. You must cultivate properly to not disgrace your master's name." He tossed out a small pouch and said, "This is the inner disciple's identification. It also acts as a bag of holding. It can hold a lot of things. Your clothes and instructions to your cultivation method are stored inside. Check it out yourself."

Naruto quickly picked it up. He was very excited, and his mind was filled with the thoughts of his parents' expectations. This time, he wholeheartedly called Iruka master.

Iruka replied with a grunt. He shifted his gaze and said, "From now on, you will live in the room in the back. You can't leave without my permission."

With that statement, he picked up a pebble and threw it at the garden gate behind him. There was only a purple light when the pebble hit the gate and it disintegrated into a fine powder.

After this display, Iruka gave Naruto a cold look and walked into his room.

Naruto's pupils contracted. He was terrified. He held his bag of holding and entered his room. The room was small and only contained a bed. Naruto didn't mind. He sat on the bed examined the bag of holding.

The little gray bag didn't look that special. Naruto turned the bag upside down on the ground and several things fell out. There was a set of red clothes and a little booklet.

Naruto's face lit up. He picked up the little booklet and excitedly opened it. On the first page it read: "Three Stages of Chakra Condensation "

He read until midnight using the light of the oil lamp. He closed the book and felt he had a bit more understanding of cultivation. This booklet contained three stages of concentrating Chakra, which were considered the most basic stages. In the booklet, it was mentioned that there were total of 15 stages of Chakra Condensation. Only after reaching the third stage could one gain access to the method for later stages.

The so called Chakra Condensation was to absorb the spiritual energy from heaven and earth to change the body and build a foundation for the future.

This was also a test of how good one's natural talents was. The more talented one was, the faster they could absorb spiritual energy into their body. Naturally, their cultivation speed would be quick, however, if one's talent was average, then perhaps they would never reach the third layer in their lifetime. Some couldn't even reach the first layer.

The Three Stages of Chakra Condensation booklet became Naruto's treasure. He immediately memorized the method for the first three layers in his mind. He sat cross legged with his eyes closed and began to breath with the one long three short method stated in the booklet. One long means to take a deep breath, while three short means to take three short breaths that were one third the length of a normal breath. Using this abnormal breathing method allows one to quickly absorb spiritual energy into their body.

The booklet indicated that the first time one practiced breathing technique, they would feel as if there are ants crawling inside their body. This was caused by spiritual energy entering the body. The booklet said not to be nervous. Just relax and imagine yourself becoming nothing, then become one with heaven and earth.

After a long time, Naruto helplessly found that not only did he not feel anything, but he was out of breath thanks to this abnormal breathing.

Naruto sighed. He knew that most of the disciples here had a lot of talent and that this booklet was written for them. His talent was only average. How could he compete with them?

But he wasn't discouraged. After taking a few breaths, he continued the breathing technique.

The night went by slowly. By the time morning came, Naruto still wasn't able to feel any spiritual energy enter this body. His head was dizzy from not sleeping at all that night as he got up and opened the door to go out.

Outside, there was a gentle breeze that carried the scent of medication. He took a few deep breaths, but wasn't able to get rid of his exhaustion. He missed the spring water filled gourd. If he could drink some of that spring water, he wouldn't be this tired.

But right now was not the time to act rashly. He was very confident in where he hid the stone bead and the gourds. He searched almost half the mountain to find a secluded location. Even if they happened upon the location, they wouldn't find his treasure.

He strolled into the herb garden until he found a rock. Naruto sat down on the rock and started to cultivate. After a while, he felt like ants were crawling in his body. He was stunned. Right as he was about to continue, his teacher shouted, "Naruto, what are you doing? Quickly come out of there. I'm telling you now; never cultivate in the herb garden."

Naruto opened his eyes and saw Iruka sullenly staring at him. He silently got up and left the herb garden.

Iruka coldly snorted, "You sure know how to find a good location. I'm growing my herbs here because it has the most spiritual energy in the garden, and you come and suck it away. If any of these herbs die because of this, even our lives couldn't compensate for them."

Naruto glared at Iruka and respectfully said, "Disciple didn't know any better. Disciple will never cultivate here again."

Iruka's expression returned to normal, then he added "However, if you can find me another gourd, while I can't let you cultivate in the herb garden, I can give you a low-grade spirit stone. With it, your Chakra Condensation will be lot easier."

Naruto lowered his head. A look of ridicule flashed across his face, then he said, "Disciple can go check the spring in the mountains again. If my luck is good, I might be able to find another one."

Iruka pondered a little and said, "You go have a look. Remember, if you bring me back another gourd, I'll reward you with a low-grade spirit stone."

Naruto looked up at Iruka and asked, "Is what master is saying true? If I bring back a gourd, you will give me a spirit stone?"

Iruka had a happy look on his face as he said, "Yes. As long as I get a gourd, I'll give you a low-grade spirit stone."

Naruto secretly sneered, but on the surface he respectfully nodded in response.

Iruka's right hand formed a seal and he muttered a few words, then he threw his arm and the gate swung open. He rubbed his beard and said, "Go ahead. Leave now and come back quickly."

Naruto left the garden without saying a word. His red uniform drew a lot of attention from the honorary disciples. Their faces were full of envy. However, when they took a closer look, and noticed who was wearing it, their expressions immediately turned weird and became even more envious.

"So it turns out that the person who became an inner disciple was him! He became an honorary disciple by trying to commit suicide. What method could he have used this time?"

"Is there a need to ask? I say he must have done some nasty things to gain the Elder's favor. That type of person is completely shameless."

"Yeah, just look at that stupid face. Even if he became an inner disciple, he'll still be at the bottom. How could cultivation be so easy?"

"That piece of trash. It doesn't matter if he becomes an inner disciple, we shouldn't care. Trash is trash, and no matter where they go, they will be looked down upon."

"Damn it. I've been an honorary disciple for four years and haven't seen someone as shameless as him. Why did the elder pick him? I'm better than him in every way!"

"You've only been here for four years? I've been here for 12 years, but relied on my own skill. Look at how arrogant he is! Hmph, inner disciples constantly fight with each other, so let's wait and watch the show."

All those words were heard by Naruto. He scanned everyone with a cold look in his eyes. He wasn't strong enough right now, but he vowed to definitely get revenge in the future.

After a while, he arrived at the east gate. He ran along the small road until he reached the spring. He washed his face with the cold water to refresh himself, then took a few drinks before sitting down and beginning to think.

elder Iruka sat on a nearby tree, cursing, "This little bastard. He said he was going to find a gourd. I can't believe he's really waiting here for a gourd to float by."

After Naruto left, elder Iruka immediately started tailing him to see if he could see where Naruto had found that gourd. However, he didn't expect Naruto to sit down and start cultivating.

The spiritual energy here was denser than it was in his room, but not as dense as it was in the herb garden. Based on his understanding, this Chakra Condensation was just how much spiritual energy was in one's body. While he could only absorb a little at a time right now, this was something that could be fixed with time.

What Naruto guessed was correct. Chakra Condensation was just spiritual energy entering the body to build a good foundation for the future.

Naruto kept up the breathing technique until noon, then got up and stretched. He still hadn't felt the sensation of ants crawling all over his body. He stood next to the spring and thought elder Iruka must not have let him go out for no reason. The elder must be spying nearby,

He touched his stomach and casually walked back toward the sect. elder Iruka exploded with anger. He had been pointlessly waiting the whole morning for nothing. He muttered, "Bastard. This old man will play your game. If you won't succeed in one day, then I'll wait one month. If one month isn't enough, I'll just wait a year. I refuse to believe you don't have another gourd."

After he finished speaking, he arrived at the herb garden before Naruto.

After a while, Naruto casually walked back in. Iruka stroked his beard and asked, "Disciple, did you find a gourd this morning?"

Naruto sighed and shook his head. "Teacher, disciple waited the whole time at the spring, but didn't find any gourd. I'll go wait in the afternoon. I might get lucky then."

Iruka thought, "You kept your eyes closed in meditation this whole morning. Even if a gourd had floated by, you wouldn't have seen it." But he instead said, "Very good. Naruto, you go eat first. Then, go check it out in the afternoon."

Naruto responded with a sound. He walked into his room and noticed there was a table with 4 dishes of meat and vegetables and even soup that would make anyone hungry. He didn't ask who brought the food in, but quickly ate some and even drank all the soup before laying on his bed to take a small nap.

Iruka's body appeared like a ghost. His face darkened as he thought, "This old man follows the sect rules, so I won't poison your food, but I can put in drugs that will hinder your spiritual energy absorption. With your average ability and my drugs, you will never get past the third layer of Chakra Condensation. You will be forever under my control."

After one hour, Naruto woke up. He straightened his clothes and walked back to the spring, then started to cultivate again. He cultivated until it was dark before getting up, and without saying a word, walked into the jungle in the mountain.

Iruka, who was sitting in a nearby tree, silently followed Naruto.

Naruto slowly made right and left turns in the mountain and looked left and right along the way. Suddenly, his expression became happy when he arrived at a vine full of gourds. He picked a small gourd that looked nice, then quickly left.

After he left, Iruka was very confused. No matter how he looked, the gourd looked very normal. He took a few gourds with him and disappeared.

Naruto followed the mountain road and returned back to the sect in no time. He ignored the words of all the other disciples. After entering the herb garden, he saw Iruka's sullen face glaring at him.

Naruto immediately respectfully handed the gourd to the elder and said, "Teacher, my luck this afternoon was pretty good. Although I wasn't able to find any in the spring, I walked around the mountain and found a lot of gourds. This one looked the most like the one I had before. Teacher, how is it?"

Iruka nearly lost his temper, but swallowed it and managed to barely squeeze out a smile. He took the gourd and tossed it to the side without looking, then said to Naruto, word for word, "The gourd I want is the one that is filled with spiritual energy like before. Why would I want a random gourd?"

He couldn't control his temper, so he ended up yelling the last few words. He wasted a whole day following this kid and was tricked by him to pick and test a few ordinary gourds.

When he thought of those gourds, he just couldn't control his anger. No matter how he looked at the gourds on his way back, they looked normal. He even hollowed them out to fill with spring water. He was spotted by a fellow apprentice-brother and was laughed at.

Naruto sneered in his heart, but on the surface he wore an innocent face as he said, "I don't know what spiritual energy is. I just heard you say that you'll give me a spirit stone if I bring you a gourd. How about you explain to me what spiritual energy is?"

Iruka felt dizzy. He seriously looked at Naruto for a long time. He began to suspect that the gourd was really the only one and was picked up in a stroke of luck by this dumb kid.

After pondering a little, he realized that what Naruto had said was reasonable. Only after reaching the first layer of Chakra Condensation would one be able to detect spiritual energy in the surroundings. After thinking about it, he regretted putting drug in his food. This kid's talent was already bad, and now with the drug, it would take at least 30 to 50 years before he could reach the first layer of Chakra Condensation.

Iruka sighed, but he isn't willing to give up. He hesitantly took out a low quality spirit stone and tossed it to Naruto. "This is the promised low quality spirit stone. Take this to cultivate and quickly cultivate to the first layer of Chakra Condensation."

Naruto quickly took it and returned to his room after expressing his gratitude.

Iruka just stood there for a long time before sighing and muttered to himself, "This is the only way to see if he is lying."

Soul Search was a simple immortal technique. The worst possible outcome for the person it was used on would be death due to their soul being shattered. The best would be becoming a retard.

But this soul technique also had drawbacks. Before one reached the Core Formation stage, if used on a mortal, the user would suffer the same damage as the target.

If one was in the Core Formation stage, then it was not an issue. However, it could only be used three times in one's lifetime, and every time it was used, the user would lose one level of cultivation.

Naruto sat crossed legged in his room. No matter how he observed the stone, it didn't seem special at all. However, when he was holding it, he felt his mind become very clear. He started cultivating.

The night passed by. Naruto sighed. He still didn't get the feeling of ants crawling in his body. No sign of spiritual energy in his body. He smiled bitterly. At that moment, someone pushed open the door. Iruka walked in with a dark expression, carrying a bowl of black liquid.

"Drink this!"

Naruto was stunned. He cautiously looked at it. Before taking it, he asked, "Teacher, what is this?"

Iruka saw Naruto's expression and became angry. He shouted, "Do you really think I would harm you? If it wasn't to help you reach the first layer of Chakra Condensation, do you really think I would spend the whole night and waste precious herbs to make this drug?"

Naruto hesitated and saw Iruka's unkind gaze. He took the bowl and gulped the drug down.

After he finished drinking it, he felt a burning feeling coming from his stomach. It spread to his whole body, making him feel thirsty. It was as if he was being baked in a fire.

His vision turned black. He dropped the bowl and felt as if he was about to fall asleep.

"Quickly cultivate. I'll help you absorb." Iruka reluctantly put his hand on Naruto's chest.

A cool feeling entered Naruto's head, clearing his mind. He quickly started to cultivate. Iruka sadly looked at the bowl on the floor. He muttered a few words, then took out a few low quality spirit stones and placed them around Naruto. He thought, "Boy, this time I'm investing a lot into you. In the future, you better repay me for all this."

After a little while, the feeling of ants crawling in his body came. Iruka could clearly feel Naruto's body condensing the spiritual energy from the drug. A joyous expression appeared on his face.

Just at that moment, a foul Chakra appeared within Naruto's body and quickly destroyed the condensing Chakra.

Iruka's face was bitter. He knew that the source of the foul Chakra was the Chakra shattering grass he had placed in Naruto's food yesterday. After all the spiritual energy from the drug was used up, there still wasn't any Chakra condensed in Naruto's body.

Iruka sighed. He stared at Naruto with mixed feelings.

Naruto opened his eyes. His body felt light and very comfortable. He was about to thank Iruka when he noticed the elder's bitter face. Iruka left without saying a word.

Naruto was stunned. He didn't know what was going on with Iruka. He walked out and shouted, "Teacher, I'll go to the spring and see how my luck is today!"

Iruka didn't say a word, but the gate to the garden silently opened. As he walked out, Iruka still followed behind him, unwilling to give up.

One month quickly passed. In that month, Naruto went to the spring to cultivate every day, and Iruka followed him every day. He became more and more disappointed each day.

Throughout the month, he gave Naruto drugs everyday to help him condense his Chakra, but they all failed. Iruka's temper became worse and worse.

The most important thing Iruka noticed was that the spiritual energy in the gourd slowly disappeared. After only a month, the spring water that filled the gourd came out as just spring water.

Finally, the gourd became the same as a normal gourd. Iruka was disappointed. After analyzing it, he guessed that this was a normal gourd, but was somehow charged with spiritual energy. This kid must have just stumbled upon it by pure luck. The chances of him having more gourds like this was very low.

He was more and more convinced that this was correct, causing his heart to ache. This month, he didn't do anything but spy on Naruto and made medication for him. Now, all that effort had been wasted. He angrily called Naruto over. He reprimanded him, and with a wave of his sleeve, threw him out of the yard.

Every time he saw Naruto, he would get angry. Now, he was out of sight and out of mind. After a while, he had completely forgotten about that disciple.

He thought again. Even though Naruto had been taking medication the whole month, it would still take eight to ten years for Naruto to reach the first layer of Chakra Condensation, unless he kept taking the medicine.

Naruto was also very happy. Although he was kicked from the yard and many honorary disciples ridiculed him throughout the month, he had learned a lot about cultivation. He learned that there were 5 stages: Chakra Condensation, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul, and Spirit Forming.

In the entire Konoha Sect, there were only two Core Formation stage experts. They both lived in the mountain peak, the place with the highest quantity of spiritual energy. They were always behind closed doors, training, and never bothering with the matters of the sect. There were only ten people in the sect who had reached the Foundation Establishment stage. They held the second highest positions and got to enjoy special privileges, such as using any magic treasure they wish.

Aside from those people, everyone else was stuck at the Chakra Condensation stage. Even Iruka was only in the 5th layer of Chakra Condensation.

Cultivation was not only very hard, but also consumed a lot of time. If one possessed inadequate talent, they wouldn't have enough years in their lifetime to cultivate. Foundation Establishment was even harder than Chakra Condensation, as one not only needed enough spiritual energy, but also luck and perception to succeed.

Naruto knew the importance of spiritual energy. He wanted to quickly recover the stone bead.

He may still not have had any spiritual energy in his body, but he believed that as long as he kept drinking the water enhanced by the bead, the process would speed up. The so called Chakra Condensation was just collecting spiritual energy

From Iruka's reaction, the water the stone bead had been soaked in must contain a large amount of spiritual energy. Thinking about this, Naruto became very excited, and forgot about the spring water where he hid the stone bead. There were three gourds full of dew. Those must contain even more spiritual energy.

If he drank them, it wouldn't be worse than the whole month of medication he was taking, most likely even better. That was why he didn't feel bad about being kicked out. In fact, he felt excitement.

He was an inner disciple, so he didn't have to live in the main courtyard. He could live in any of the five other court yards. He picked a remote house close to the east gate of the courtyard.

Inner disciples got different treatment depending on the color of their clothes. He learned from Iruka in the past month that on the 10th of every month, every inner disciple could go and pick up a fragment of low-grade spirit stone and a Chakra Gathering Pill.

After saving up 10 spirit stone shards, one could go to any elder to exchange them for a whole low quality spirit stone

After Naruto cleaned up his house, he didn't immediately set out to find the stone bead. He was afraid that Iruka was still spying on him. He continued his normal routine of cultivating at the spring during the day, and continued to cultivate in his home at night.

In fact, Iruka was unwilling to give up. He spied on him for 10 more days before he finally gave up.

One month later, Naruto sneaked out in the middle of the night. After making many left and right turns in the mountain, he retrieved the stone bead and gourds without anyone noticing.

After being careful for a few days, he noticed that there were no abnormalities, and was finally able to relax. He no longer went to the spring, but stayed home to study the stone bead all day.

Naruto touched the bead and immediately noticed that the number of clouds had increased from seven to nine. It must have been because of the high humidity in the mountain, allowing the bead to absorb a lot of water.

As for the three gourds, as Naruto opened them, he found that the dew inside them had become sticky, especially the one that contained the morning dew. It had almost become jelly-like.

Naruto looked at the stone bead, then at the three gourds. He started to become excited. If the stone bead needed to absorb water, what if the water from the three gourds was used? Would it cause the 10th cloud to appear?

His heart skipped a beat. The bead was already really small. Currently, the nine clouds covered almost the entire bead. There was only a fingernail sized space left on the bead. Naruto guessed that that's where the 10th cloud will be.

We pondered a little. In his heart, he really wanted to know what would happen once it had ten clouds. There was no more space for an 11th cloud, so the 10th must be the final one.

But today was the day to pick up the spirit stone fragment. Naruto noticed it was getting dark outside. He stored the stone bead and gourds in his bag of holding before leaving the room.

He now knew the sect very well. After a while, he arrived at the main courtyard. He quickly sprinted toward the pill house before it got dark.

Before he got there, he heard a familiar voice from the distance.

"Kurenai, master allowed me to go into closed door training for three months to charge for the first layer of Chakra Condensation, but I keep thinking of you. I wasn't able to calm my heart the whole time! I wanted to quickly reach the first layer of Chakra Condensation just so I could see you. Last night, I finally reached the first layer of Chakra Condensation, so I rushed out to gather this flower for you in the mountains. Look at how pretty the flower is. There was a huge snake guarding the flower, so I spend a lot of effort to obtain it. Look, even my elbow was injured because of it."

Naruto frowned and stopped. He sneered in his heart and kept going.

Then, came a crisp female voice. "Apprentice-brother Menma, my family is a family of doctors. This flower is clearly a very common flower called Asuka. I see many of them when I climb up the mountain. This is the first time I heard a snake would guard it. If it's true, then our Konoha Sect would be filled with snakes. Kurenai, don't believe him."

At that moment, Naruto walked into the pill house's courtyard. There were four others in there, two male and two female, all wearing red.

One of the males looked very handsome and well groomed. He was very embarrassed and was about to retort, but then he noticed Naruto. Suddenly, he stared at the door with an expression of disbelief and said, "Naruto! You… Why are you here, you should be at home doing carpenter work with your father!"

One of the girls on the side said, "Naruto? Ah, so you're the one that became an honorary disciple by trying to commit suicide, then became an inner disciple by sucking up to elder Iruka!" Her shiny black hair was in a ponytail. She had thick eyebrows and big black eyes. She was very pretty.

The other two's faces were full of shock, stares locked onto Naruto. One of the girls had large, child-like eyes, decorated by beautiful eyelashes. Her eyes were like two crystal balls, and they showed a look of interest.

Naruto's face was deadpan as he scanned the people in front of him. The moment he heard the girl's voice, he realized it was the girl who was ridiculing Menma. But looking at her, she looked very familiar. Naruto thought carefully and remembered that she was the one that had been picked during the disciple selection a few months ago. After recognizing her, he deduced that the other one must've been Kurenai, to whom Menma was trying to give the flower.

The last man was a youth about 20 years old. He had a long, horse-like face. He raised his chin and said, with a look of disdain, " Apprentice-brother Menma, you have been in closed door training for three months, so you don't know. This Naruto is the biggest joke in the sect right now. Just as Sakura said, he used those methods to become an inner disciple."

After Menma heard that, he laughed out loud. "You really scared me for a second there. So that's how you entered the sect. Even if you enter here, you'll probably never reach the first layer of Chakra Condensation. Why even come here and tarnish the Uzumaki family's name?"

"Apprentice-brother Menma, what you said is wrong. While talent is important, what's more important is perseverance. Cultivation is already going against the heavens. If one doesn't have perseverance, it doesn't matter, no matter how talented they are." The girl named Kurenai said, with a voice that shook the heart.

As she took a few steps closer to Menma, the girl named Sakura said, "What Apprentice-brother Menma said isn't wrong though. This Naruto looks so dumb. He doesn't look like a cultivator at all."

Naruto chuckled. He understood that the situation between them was complex. Menma liked this girl named Kurenai, but the girl named Sakura liked Menma, so she was trying to destroy their relationship earlier.

Hearing Naruto's laughter caused Menma to be very dissatisfied. He snorted and said, "Naruto, I advise you to leave the Konoha Sect for your own good. If you don't, if you don't die, you'll definitely be crippled at the disciple competition in the end of the year."

Naruto heard from Iruka that there was a disciple competition at the end of the year where the winner could get a magical treasure. The competition was divided into two levels. In one of them, all the disciples in the sect fight for the top spot, and in the other, all of the new disciples fight to be the king of the newcomers.

Naruto casually retorted, "You don't need to worry. Why are you worrying about the life and death of trash like me?"

Menma coldly laughed. "I worry because we are relatives. Since you won't accept my good intentions, don't blame me for not going easy on you in the competition." His eyes flashed cold after he finished talking.

Menma had looked down upon Naruto's family ever since he was little. Although he had never met Naruto, he had always heard from his dad that Naruto's father always sucked up to grandfather in order to steal a large portion of the family inheritance, and even disgraced his father. It was only because all the other family members weren't blind that they were able take his father's inheritance back. In Menma's eyes, Naruto's family was a disgrace to the Uzumaki family. Like father, like son.

Although, after growing up, he had realized that things weren't exactly as his father had described, but he had been very arrogant since he was little. He sometimes even looked down on his own dad, not to mention everyone else.

The girl named Sakura pondered a bit, then asked Menma, "You are relatives?"

The other two were also surprised. This was the first time that they heard about this. It seems these two were relatives.

The girl named Sakura saw that Menma's face was unfriendly, so she quickly said, "Brother Menma, don't be angry. He simply doesn't understand your good intentions. You are a good person, and smarter than him. Don't expect him to understand your good intentions. Once he's suffered a bit, he'll know how good you were to him. My family has relatives like him too. In fact, every family is like this. Not everyone can be as excellent as you. In fact, I understand how you feel. You really wish for him to be better."

Menma blushed from what the girl named Sakura said. He stared at her, not sure if she was complimenting or ridiculing him.

After Naruto heard what the girl said, he burst out laughing. "Menma, looks like I misunderstood you. You are good to me. I, Naruto, will remember this. Thank you."

As he was talking, the pill house's door opened. A youth with a bright face walked out. It was Udon.

After he walked out, he coughed to get everyone's attention, and said, with a smiling face, "Today's Chakra Gathering Pills are still in the furnace. Once they are done, I'll call you guys in one by one."

Menma stared at Udon, gritting his teeth, but he really couldn't offend him right now. Udon was still the third Senior Apprentice-brother's helper, in charge daily matters in the pill house. If Udon complained to this master, then his own monthly supply would be reduced a lot.

After Udon finished speaking, he scanned the area and was surprised to see Naruto. He pulled Naruto to the side and said, "Elder Brother Iron Heart, congratulations on becoming an inner disciple. I heard all about your matter. I originally wanted to come and talk with you, but this place is too strict. I don't like what the others say about you. Once you cultivate some techniques, you can get revenge on all those who looked down upon you."

Naruto's heart felt warm and he smiled. "Udon, thank you."

Udon sighed. "Back then, I wanted to stay a few days with you, but my dad gave me a look to stop me. It looked like he didn't want me to get mixed in. Elder Brother Iron Heart, please forgive me."

Naruto shook his head. He said, "There is no point in talking about the past. Right now, I just want to quickly cultivate to the first layer of Chakra Condensation.

Udon's eyes spun. While no one was watching, he stuffed something into Naruto's hand and winked at him. Then, a cold voice came from the room.

"Pill helper, still not coming back?"

Udon replied and quickly rushed back into the pill house.

Naruto tightly held on to the thing in his hand. He looked at what was in his hand and saw three transparent pills. He secretly placed them in his bag of holding. Not afraid of getting dirty, he sat down cross legged and started to cultivate.

One of the four others that were there saw Naruto sit down, then also sat down and started to cultivate, while the other three stood to the side.

Menma was trying to get on the girl named Kurenai's good side, but the girl name Sakura was disrupting him the entire time.

Time slowly passed, and the sky became dark. As the moon rose, the door to the pill house opened. Udon looked worn out as he walked out with a tray in his hand.

5 low quality spirit stones and 5 transparent pills were on the tray.

People went out one by one after getting their portion. Naruto went last. He smiled and cusped his hands at Udon, then left.

He remembered Udon's kindness in his heart. The three pills Udon gave him were Chakra Gathering Pills.

After returning to his room, he immediately closed the door. He didn't use the Chakra Gathering Pills, but put kept them in his bag of holding. He was about to start an experiment with the stone bead.

He cautiously took out the three gourds and the stone bead, then pondered a little and revealed an uncertain expression. He was weighing the pros and cons, because without the dew, his future cultivation speed will be very slow.

But the mysterious clouds on the stone bead made Naruto very curious. After thinking for a while, he made his decision. He could always collect more dew, it would just take some time. However, if the tenth cloud appeared, it could cause a change to the bead. Maybe then, the water the bead soaks in will contain even more spiritual energy.

After he thought about this, he immediately took out the gourd that contained the best morning dew. It took him a long time to get the jelly out of the gourd.

After a while, all the dew had been poured out. There was half a stone bowl of greenish liquid containing a very refreshing smell. After smelling it, Naruto's body relaxed.

He was afraid that the smell would attract the attention of the hidden experts in the sect, so he quickly threw the stone bead into it. After a while, it absorbed a bit of the liquid.

Naruto was a bit disappointed. He was hoping that there would be a sudden change. However, the stone bead was absorbing the smell from the liquid. Naruto pondered a bit, then put the stone bowl next to his bed. He sat down on his bed and started to cultivate.

The one long and three short breathing technique was now easy for Naruto. Although in the past two months he hadn't condensed any spiritual energy, he had become used to the breathing technique. He would breath like this even when he wasn't cultivating.

The night passed and Naruto opened his eyes to check on the stone bowl. He saw that half of the liquid had been absorbed by the stone bead.

He was not discouraged, and put the bowl back under his bed. After hesitating for a while, he took out a Chakra Gathering Pill and put it in his mouth. He felt heat immediately come from within his body.

In the month with Iruka, he had experienced this process every day. He quickly started cultivating. He cultivated until night came. Naruto slowly let out a white breath and smiled wryly. "This Chakra Gathering Pill is just like Iruka's drugs, also made from some herbs containing lot of spiritual energy. Every time I eat them, my body feels relaxed and full of energy. I also don't feel hunger, but I still can't condense any spiritual energy."

He sighed. Menma could achieve the first layer of Chakra Condensation in three months. His expression remained the same, but had mixed feelings in his heart. Talent; it's the most important part of cultivating.

But with Naruto's personality, he wouldn't give up so easily. He had the mysterious bead. He wasn't lacking any spiritual energy. Although he couldn't condense any spiritual energy now, he would definitely succeed with time.

"Time…." Naruto bit his lip and sighed. He took out the stone bowl from under his bed. There was only a little bit of liquid left, but the tenth cloud still hadn't appeared.

He immediately took out other gourd and poured the liquid into the bowl. There was some extra liquid left over, so Naruto drank it and continued to cultivate.

The heat that appeared in his body this time was stronger than all the previous times. He could feel the heat moving in his body. He quickly felt very thirsty, but continued to cultivate.

After a short while, Naruto felt that something was wrong. The heat didn't dissipate like before, but started to gather more and more as he breathed. He felt like his body was a balloon that had reached its limit.

Wan Lin was afraid, so he stopped cultivating, but the pain of swelling stayed. He opened his eyes and immediately found out in horror that all this blood vessels were swollen, like there were worms under his skin.

Naruto didn't know that the drugs he ate before didn't generate much spiritual energy, and even with the spiritual energy he gathered from nature using the breathing technique, he couldn't make up for how much spiritual energy was lost due to his talent.

Plus, at the most important moment, the Chakra Scattering Grass would prevent him from successfully condensing the spiritual energy.

But now he drank the dew that contained much more spiritual energy than the drugs, much more than what he lost due to his talent. If he didn't cultivate, they would just dissipate after a while, but now, his spiritual energy would rise as if it were fire being fed by oil when he cultivated.

He knew he messed up, but he didn't know what to do. He could only watch as his blood vessels expanded. When his blood vessels were at their limit, an idea entered his head. Without much time to think, he gritted his teeth and started to cultivate with the one short and three long breathing technique.

He thought that since one long three short was gathering spiritual energy, then the reverse must be scattering spiritual energy.

Naruto's guess was more or less correct. Most cultivators knew this breathing technique because this was the step before Foundation Establishment.

With his breathing, streams of spiritual energy exited from every part of his body. It was all sucked in by the stone bead under his bed.

As time passed, the swollen feeling gradually lessened. His blood vessels also returned to normal. What was releasing from his body now was no longer spiritual energy, but some dark Chakra that the stone bead didn't absorb that dissipated in the air.

This lucky coincidence allowed Naruto to remove the Chakra Scattering Grass from his body.

If one wanted to force out the Chakra Scattering Grass, one method was to use a lot of spiritual energy to force out it all out. This was the method Iruka was using, but he had a change of heart about Naruto and didn't want to lose any more of his herbs, so he gave up.

The second method was to use the scattering technique, which was to remove all the spiritual energy from one's body, then start cultivating from the start. The reason Iruka didn't use this method was because Naruto already had almost no spiritual energy, therefore, he couldn't even use the technique.

The scattering technique lasted a whole day and night. Naruto was so tired, he collapsed on his bed. He knew that he was able to save himself this time, but in the future, he mustn't carelessly drink the dew.

He was extremely tired, so he fell asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

After an unknown amount of time, Naruto opened his eyes and saw that it was dark outside. He got off his bed and stretched for a while. His body didn't feel very different. He took out the stone bowl from under his bed and was surprised to see that the tenth cloud had finally appeared on the bead.

Naruto was thrilled. He looked at the bead and quickly ran out of the house. He went and gathered spring water before quickly returning. He placed the stone bead in the water and mixed it around.

After he did all this, he drank the spring water and tasted it for a while, but there wasn't any change like there was before. He looked at the bead with some disappointment on his face, then tried to bite it, but it was still hard as a rock.

He even squeezed a drop of blood onto the bead, but there was still no change.

He hesitated and gritted his teeth for a while, then took the stone bowl and slammed it on the stone bead. He believed that once it had ten clouds, there would be some sort of change.

After a bang, the stone bowl broke. Even Naruto's hand was numb, but there was no sign of damage to the stone bead at all.

He used everything he could think of, but the stone bead didn't seem to have any change after obtaining the tenth cloud. Feeling heartbroken, he threw the stone bead to the side.

After a while, he unwillingly walked over to pick it up. After staring at it for a while, he started to feel sleepy. He was stunned. He had just woke up, why would he feel sleepy? He rubbed his eyes and continued to stare at the bead.

Slowly, he became even more drowsy. The bead became more and more blurry before he finally fell to the ground, asleep with the bead still in his hand.

He had a dream. In his dream, he arrived at a space without boundary. There were no stars, but there were glowing objects all around him. Although he was dreaming, his mind was very clear. He wondered why he would be dreaming of this.

Naruto didn't feel like there was anything wrong with his body here. However, he didn't know how to wake up to escape this place. In his helplessness, he walked around aimlessly in this boundaryless area for a long time.

After an unknown amount of time, when he was really tired, the surroundings started to shake. It felt like his body was being torn apart. With a scream, he opened his eyes.

He looked around and noticed that he was still in the room. Naruto took a deep breath and wiped the sweat off his forehead. He was happy that the strange dream finally ended. Suddenly, his expression became really odd. He looked at the bead and noticed that all the clouds had disappeared. Instead, there were little words inscribed on the bead.

"This…" Naruto was stunned and quickly took a closer look. The words looked really strange, an uncommon font. He had always loved reading, and thought for a long time, trying to patch the words with words he had read. He was able to guess a few words.

Naruto held the bead and muttered to himself, "This seems to be a number in written form. It doesn't hold any meaning." Suddenly, a thought flashed through his head and he remembered the strange dream.

"Was that related to the bead?" Naruto pondered a little and immediately lied down on his bed, trying to force himself to fall asleep. But he was still full of energy, so he couldn't do it.

He remembered that the last time he fell asleep was from staring the bead. So he started to stare at the bead without blinking once. Soon, he became drowsy and fell asleep.

The boundary-less space appeared again. Naruto revealed a thoughtful look. This time, he didn't wander around, but started to jump up and down repetitively.

As time passed, he managed to jump higher and higher. At the start, he was only able to jump about half a meter, but now he was able to jump over 1 meter. After his entire body was worn out, the feeling of being torn apart appeared again.

Then he woke up.

The moment he woke up, he got off the bed and jumped. He jumped up really high, exactly like how he had jumped in his dream.

Naruto was astonished. Soon, an excited expression appeared on his face. He took a few deep breaths to contain his excitement and began to pace around the room. His expression constantly changed. Sometimes a puzzled expression, sometimes a deep in thought expression, and sometimes a troubled expression. Sweat dripped from his forehead.

Naruto muttered, "If it's just exercising in my dream, then it is useless, I can exercise in reality. It doesn't need to be in my dream."

"That's not right. This bead absorbed so much liquid filled with spiritual energy before the tenth cloud appeared, it can't be useless. There must be some other use, there must be. But what could it be?" Naruto forgot about everything around him and wholeheartedly devoted himself to the bead.

"Could it be…" He stopped. It seemed like he had grasped an idea. He asked himself, "Could it be time?"

After thinking about it, he couldn't control his emotions anymore. He wanted to excitedly scream a few words. He clenched his fists. His body trembled as he looked at the bead.

"If if it really related to time then I … I, Iron Heart, will become an immortal no matter how bad my talent is!" Naruto took a few deep breaths before he returned to normal. Without saying a word, he took out the oil lamp and filled it with oil. He sat on his bed holding the stone bead and started to calculate time.

After 5 hours, the lamp went out.

Naruto quickly refilled the lamp with oil. He stared at the bead and went back into the dream.

This time, he didn't practice jumping, but he sat cross legged on the ground, counting time.

One hour, five hours, ten hours, twenty hours, thirty-five hours, fifty hours!

The feeling of his body being torn apart appeared again. When Naruto opened his eyes, the oil lamp was about to go out.

"Ten times the time. Ten times the time passed in the dream." Naruto excitedly stood up, holding the bead tightly.

For the first time, he was confident in his cultivation.

It was already really late. Naruto contained his excited heart and didn't immediately start to use the bead to start cultivating. He was afraid that if he started using the bead in the morning, he would be found out by someone. When that happened, he would not be able to keep it, so he put the bead back into his bag of holding and left the room.

After gathering a lot of spring water from the mountain, Naruto began to make spiritual energy-filled spring water. When it was ten at night, he locked his door. As a precaution, he tied one end of a rope to the door and the other end to his arm so he would know right away if someone opened it.

After drinking few large gulps of spring water, he felt his body heat up. He then stared at the bead to enter the dream.

In the endless dream space, Naruto sat crossed legged as he started to cultivate. When he was cultivating, the lights all around him became more gentle. Naruto wasn't aware of this, but the lights entered his body.

After staying there for a day, all the spiritual energy from the water was gone. But this time, he could clearly feel the difference in his body. Before, when he would finish Iruka's medication, he felt heat. However, in the most critical moment, all the spiritual energy would scatter.

But this time was different. Even though they still scattered, there was still a sliver left in his body. Although it was not a lot, Naruto gained a lot of confidence from those results. After considering it for a while, he couldn't figure out why it was different. So in the end, he could only speculate that it was because of the mysterious stone bead.

Because he couldn't leave the dream of his own will to get more spring water, he could only continue to cultivate for a long time. In the end, he realized that there was a difference between the dream space and outside. Outside, even though he had been cultivating for more than a month, he would feel refreshed and very comfortable after cultivation.

But here, after the spiritual energy from the spring water had all dissipated, he didn't have the refreshed and comfortable feeling, Instead, when he kept cultivating, he felt short of breath.

After hesitating for a while, Naruto guessed that it was related to the existence of spiritual energy. There was no natural spiritual energy in the dream space.

The more he thought, the more he felt he was correct. He frowned, thinking, "If there was only a way to bring in the spring water from outside, it would be all good." Thinking about it, his heart suddenly skipped a beat as he looked at his own body and revealed a puzzled expression.

Naruto was very puzzled by the red disciple uniform he had on. He quickly checked the pocket where his bag of holding was and found that it missing.

"Clothes can appear in the dream space, but the bag of holding couldn't appear." He bitterly thought about it and decided to experiment on what items could or couldn't be brought into the dream space once he leaves.

Time passed by quickly. After 50 hours had passed, the feeling of being torn apart appeared and woke Naruto up.

He still had a question in his heart. Why could he only stay in the dream for 5 hours? With that question in mind, he filled a gourd with spring water and carried it on his shoulder, ready to enter the dream again.

But this time, no matter how he stared at the bead, he didn't feel the usual drowsiness. Naruto was frightened. After thinking for a long time, he contained the fear in his heart and sat down to cultivate.

Gradually, as his breathing steadied, the natural spiritual energy was absorbed by his body. As it dissipated, some remained in this body. However, this was still far from the first layer of Chakra Condensation.

He spent the whole day cultivating. He kept drinking the spring water to keep his body filled with spiritual energy.

In addition, he always held the stone bead, hoping to enter the dream space again, but failed to do so every time.

Night came. He opened both his eyes and could feel that the spiritual energy in his body had increased by a little. If it was normal, he would be very excited, but he was restless. He looked at the bead again and suddenly felt drowsy. Naruto revealed a happy expression as he looked away to expel the drowsiness.

He stood up and rubbed his chin while pacing around the room, pondering over what had happened before and after he entered the dream. He finally found the problem.

The first two times, he entered with almost no time in between. The third time was 5 hours after the second, and the fourth time was a whole day after the third.

Following this logic, there were some restrictions on entering this dream space. To be safe, one should wait 5 hours after a use to guarantee entrance.

After resolving that issue, Naruto began to prepare to test what he could bring into the dream space. He ended up gathering a lot of things, including three gourds. One was a gourd with some remaining dew, one was empty, and one was filled with spring water.

He even put a piece of the broken stone bowl into his pocket. In addition, he took out a sweet potato and a cloth from his bag of holding and bound them to his body before entering the dream again.

In the dream space, Naruto quickly checked his body. The sweet potato, broken stone bowl, and cloth were all there, but the three gourds and his bag of holding weren't.

He concluded that, without a doubt, there was no spiritual energy within this dream realm, so any normal item, in other words, any item without any spiritual energy, could be brought in.

The three gourds and the bag of holding all contained some spiritual energy, therefore, they couldn't be brought in.

Letting out a sigh, Naruto began to think bitterly. He couldn't bring the gourd in there, and the few gulps he took from the gourd before going into the dream space weren't enough to last him the full duration of his stay.

After thinking about this, an idea flashed through his mind. He felt like he had an idea, but couldn't grasp it. The feeling of an idea just outside of his reach made him go deep into his thoughts, organizing his ideas one by one.

After a long time, his expression turned happy as he grasped one key point; the spiritual energy filled water couldn't be brought in, but the spiritual energy that entered his body didn't disappear.

It was that you couldn't bring objects with spiritual energy in there, but if he thought carefully, he might find a way.

After 50 hours had passed, he quickly left his room and searched the mountain until he found a few wild gourds and took them home.

He believed that the three gourds from earlier couldn't be brought into the dream space because they had been soaked in the spiritual energy water for so long, that the spiritual energy had fused with the gourds

Now, he was filling the freshly picked gourds with spiritual energy water. He might be able to trick the bead to bring them into the dream space.

After five hours, Naruto entered the dream space with four gourds on his shoulder. After entering the dream, Naruto was surprised to find that all the gourds were still with him.

He opened them and saw that the water was still inside. He took a drink and found them to still be filled with spiritual energy. Without a word, Naruto drank a few mouthfuls and started to cultivate.

Every time the spiritual energy in his body dissipated, he drank more spring water. Soon, slivers of spiritual energy started to gather in his body, moving his body toward the first layer of Chakra Condensation.

The lights in the surrounding area started to silently enter his body again.

With Naruto's talent, without the mysterious bead and the spiritual energy water, it would've been many years before he could achieve the first layer of Chakra Condensation. Adding the Chakra Scattering Grass to the equation, it would take thirty to fifty years before he would succeed.

Taking Iruka's medication every day for a month sped up the process. Naruto also unknowingly used the Chakra Scatter Technique, which got rid of the Chakra Scattering Grass. But even then, it would still have taken him ten years. But now, Naruto wasn't lacking any spiritual energy. He had this stone bead that allowed him to train 10x more. The first layer of Chakra Condensation was now in sight.

Time had flown by while he was in the Konoha Sect. Naruto had been cultivating in the dream space for the past two months. He had thoroughly studied the capabilities of the stone bead.

The dream space could be entered three times a day. Each time was about fifty hours, adding up to about six days.

Two months had passed in the real world, but he had cultivated for a whole year.

Naruto couldn't feel it before, but cultivating was a very boring and dry process. With the help of the spiritual energy spring water, he didn't need to eat all. All he did every day was cultivate.

He repeated the one long three short breathing technique as the spiritual energy entered his body. If it wasn't for his parents' looks of hope that kept popping up in his mind, he believed that he wouldn't be able to stand this tedious cultivation.

Especially when he thought about how Menma was able to reach the first layer of Chakra Condensation in three months. Naruto would always feel dissatisfaction in his heart. He almost never left his house. He was completely devoted to his cultivation.

Naruto was the joke of the Konoha Sect. Although there were many people who made fun of him, only a few paid any attention to him.

Iruka had almost forgotten about Naruto. Every time he thought of Naruto, he would become furious and do his best to filter those thoughts out of his mind.

Thanks to all these factors and with Naruto hiding his precious stone bead in his clothes before he fell asleep, these last two months had passed by peacefully, without anyone finding out about his stone bead.

In those two months, the amount of times Naruto had consumed the spring water couldn't be counted anymore. Basically, any time he felt he was lacking spiritual energy in his body, he would drink a few big gulps.

If Iruka knew of this, his heart would be filled with pain. He would likely kill this disciple with one slap. In the entire cultivation community in the country of Konoha, who else could cultivate like Naruto, drinking spiritual energy filled spring water every day? Only a few old monsters of sects in the mainland could possibly have similar privileges. They would have to take over a mountain with an abundance of spiritual energy to achieve results similar to what the spiritual energy water brought Naruto.

spiritual energy held an important place in all cultivators' hearts. Although in the country of Konoha there wasn't an overabundance of spiritual energy, it was enough for the few sects that existed. If other cultivators knew of how Naruto was using spiritual energy, their hearts would ache to death.

If Naruto's spiritual energy spring water would be used to make immortal pills, it would increase the success rate. Although making immortal pills was all about the ingredients, a bit of extra spiritual energy could work wonders.

With the help of the endless reservoir of spiritual energy contained within the bead, the quantity of spiritual energy in Naruto's body had increased more and more.

Today, when Naruto was cultivating in the dream space, he could clearly feel the spiritual energy move within his body. With his breath, two long white dragons came from his nose.

A feeling of ants crawling in his body arose. It felt as if water was washing every part of his body. Black liquid that smelled very bad excreted from his pores.

Soon, the black liquid soaked his clothes. Naruto didn't care about it at all. He was currently in a wonderful state, as if he could see the spring water rushing inside him while the spiritual energy slowly changed his body.

After an unknown amount of time, Naruto opened his eyes. There was a light in his eyes that was never there before.

His mind was clear and his heart was as calm as water without a single ripple. His childhood flooded through his mind. His father's loving look when he was learning to talk, his mother's supporting words when he was studying all night, his parents' looks of expectation when he entered the Konoha Sect, his relatives' ridiculing faces, and the villagers' admiring looks. He saw all of these things calmly, as if he was a stranger.

Much later, he took a deep breath. His heart felt bitter. When he had stepped into the first layer of Chakra Condensation, he gained a hint of understanding.

According to the Three Stages of Chakra Condensation, the first layer of Chakra Condensation was like a gate. Once one opened the gate, they could enter the ranks of cultivators and would cut themselves off from the world, giving up worldly affairs.

Everyone would experience this when they entered the first layer of Chakra Condensation. He didn't know how others handled it, but he could cut off all worldly affairs except for his parents' love.

With a sigh, Naruto dusted his shirt and stood up.

With bright eyes, he looked around and could already feel that there was a difference in the dream space. Like before, he couldn't tell if there was anything weird with the glowing lights around him. but now he could feel spiritual energy moving within them. Even though he couldn't see the exact movement, compared to before, he was like a blind man who had become able to see.

While watching, the feeling of being torn apart appeared again. Although there was still pain, it was a lot less and wouldn't result in cold sweat anymore.

Naruto opened his eyes. He sat on his bed, thinking for a while, and immediately opened the gourd. When he looked inside, he could now see the spiritual energy that filled the spring water.

He let out a smile. After reaching the first layer of Chakra Condensation, he could feel the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. He took a deep breath. Naruto suddenly found that his body was sticky and let out a laugh. It was mentioned in the Three Stages of Chakra Condensation that after reaching the first layer of Chakra Condensation, the filth in the body would be expelled. It was a necessary stage for the body's transformation.

Naruto opened his door. It was now afternoon outside. His steps were quick as he left through the east gate and arrived at a downstream location. He took off his clothes and jumped into the river to wash his body. The dark filth was very greasy and took a long time to scrub off.

After he finished washing, he lied down on a rock. He remembered a technique in the Three Stages of Chakra Condensation.

It introduced an immortal technique called Attractive Force Technique. This was considered one of the most basic immortal techniques and could be used as long as one had reached the first layer of Chakra Condensation.

The Konoha Sect unified the country of Konoha 500 years ago. Although it had declined, it still contained many immortal techniques. Every disciple would be sent to the Scripture Library to choose one of many techniques, but most elders recommended sword cultivation technique.

Sword cultivation technique was to focus the entire cultivation on the sword. Although cultivation would be difficult in the future, it was very powerful early on, and easy to control. The Attractive Force Technique was the basis for controlling flying swords.

Besides the Attractive Force Technique, there were two more techniques recorded in the Three Stage of Chakra Condensation. They were Fireball and Earth Splitting Technique.

While thinking about the three techniques, Naruto became excited. In an attempt to produce the Fireball technique, he formed the seal with his hand. However, forget about fire, not even a spark appeared. After a long time, he frowned and tried again.

Time and time again, he was ultimately met with failure. He only managed to produce a spark one time.

Naruto laughed bitterly. "Talent...it's always talent!" He then practiced the Earth Splitting technique on a nearby rock. Although the results were better than what he achieved while attempting the Fireball technique, the crack was only the size of his pinky finger. This kind of technique was good for tricking mortals, but in a real battle, they were useless.

Finally, he practiced the Attraction Force Technique. He was still not satisfied with the result.

But considering that the success rate of the Attraction Force Technique was the highest, Naruto put all his effort into practicing Attraction Force. To put it simply, Attraction Force was really just controlling objects from a distance.

If one could control Attraction Force well, and has reached the second layer of Chakra Condensation, they could practice the Repelling Technique. After one broke through the third layer and went into the fourth layer, they could go to the Sword Spirit House to select a flying sword.

After practicing for a long time, Naruto started to head home before it got dark. Now that he had reached the first layer of Chakra Condensation, his eyesight and hearing had improved greatly. After entering through the east gate, he heard some familiar voices as he passed by the chore house.

"brother Sasuke, when you first arranged for me to gather firewood, you said 100 pounds was enough to finish the task. Why is it 1000 pounds now? I, Sora, am not new, and over these past few years I have done much to please you. Do you really want to force me out of the sect?"

"Sora, don't say that I'm making this hard on you. It is almost the end of the year, and even your brother here hasn't had a good time. But you, instead of working, have come here to give me a sob story. When I brought the firewood that you gathered to the pill house, I was scolded. I took them back and checked them. You little bastard, you really are smart. In the 100 pounds of wood, there was at least 30 pounds of water."

Sora was furious. He loudly said, "Not possible. You're falsely accusing me. Wasn't it because a few days ago, I saw Jirobo give you an immortal talisman so you could pick an easier task for him? What's the big deal? Among the honorary disciples, who doesn't know how you act? As for trying to force me off the Konoha Sect, you really f*cked up, you bastard. I'm not doing this anymore. I'm going to tell the elders."

"Sora, you forced me to do this. If you want to blame someone, you can only blame yourself for being unlucky to have seen something you shouldn't have. Sora, stay here. If the elders know of this, your entire family could die with you."

Disciple Sasuke's cold voice came out of the room and Sora let out a scream. After hearing it, Naruto was surprised and kicked open the door.

Naruto first saw the youth named Sasuke's hideous face. He was in the middle of thrusting a dagger toward Sora, who had a frightened expression and whose body was against the wall.

Naruto saw that he didn't have enough time to help Sora. He quickly started to use the Attraction Force Technique. Luckily, it was successful this time. An invisible hand held down the attacker. However, the dagger had already cut Sora's chest. Blood poured out from the wound.

The youth named Sasuke was extremely frightened. His whole body felt powerless as an invisible force held his body, preventing the dagger from being pushed down anymore.

Sora's face was pale. Sweat filled his forehead. He looked at Naruto and quickly crawled to the side.

The youth named Sasuke was shocked, and immediately started to struggle. Naruto's forehead started to sweat hard, as if he was starting to lose control.

This was the first time Naruto used the technique on a person. Obviously, he couldn't control it well. Adding on to that, the person was struggling, so he had difficulty maintaining control. Naruto's body trembled. Seeing that Sora wasn't in danger anymore, he relaxed a bit and the Attraction Force Technique also loosened up.

Seeing that Sasuke was about to struggle free, Sora revealed a strange expression. He looked at Naruto, then at brother Sasuke. His expression turned ruthless. He picked up a wood-cutting axe and walked toward brother Sasuke.

brother Sasuke's face filled with fear and he struggled harder. Sora gritted his teeth and muttered to himself, "Not a man without poison. brother Sasuke, you forced me to do this. You wanted to kill my whole family?"

"Sora what are you going to do?" Naruto was surprised, and the Attraction Force Technique lost its effect.

The moment the youth named Sasuke regained control of his body, Sora slammed down the axe toward brother Sasuke's head. brother Sasuke was too late to dodge. A sound like that of a watermelon being broken momentarily filled the room. brother Sasuke's body twitched on the ground before it stopped moving.

The axe in Sora's hand fell to the ground. He looked at the bloody corpse with a complex expression.

Naruto was stunned. That was the first time he had seen such a bloody scene. After a long time, he bitterly started to ask, "Sora, you…"

Sora looked up at Naruto. His face looked distorted, revealing a grim look. He said, word for word, "Naruto, you saw as well. I didn't want to kill him. If it wasn't for you, I would have been killed by him. He forced me to do all that, he forced me!"

Naruto remained silent. He hadn't for expected his to happen.

Sora took a deep breath. His face revealed a determined expression. He walked next to the corpse and searched it for a while. He took out a bag of holding containing hundreds of the talismans that honorary disciples used to visit their families. In addition to those, there was a thread-bound booklet. Sora glanced through the book and put it away in his clothes.

Afterward he searched the room. He eventually found a secret compartment under the bed. Inside it was a piece of yellow paper.

Pondering a little, he turned toward Naruto and said, "Naruto, today you saved me. I, Sora, will always remember this. As for the Konoha Sect, I won't be able to stay any longer. When the sect finds Disciple Sasuke's body, they will investigate and find me in the end. I'm going to take these things. As for this disaster-causing immortal talisman, it must be a treasure, or else this youth named Sasuke wouldn't have tried to kill me." With that, he handed the yellow paper to Naruto.

Naruto didn't take it. He let out a sigh and bitterly smiled. "You...why must you do this. If you hadn't killed him…"

Sora frowned. He said, "Naruto, don't talk about this anymore. I have suffered enough in these past few years. If you still consider me a friend, take this immortal talisman."

Naruto bitterly took the talisman. He didn't say any more.

"Naruto, I'm going to leave. This has nothing to do with you. If the sect investigates, they will only find me. By then, I will have already left the Konoha Sect. Hmph, the country of Konoha is very large. I don't believe I'll be an honorary disciple my whole life." Sora's expression was complex. After a long time, he slowly turned and left the room.


	7. Chapter 7

Naruto stared at the spot Sora had just been standing in. After a long time, he let out a sigh while holding the yellow paper in his hand. After coming to the Konoha Sect, Sora was his first friend, but now this happened.

"This immortal talisman is the cause of this disaster!" Naruto stared at the talisman. His eyes suddenly changed as he noticed what was different about it. Although this yellow talisman looked just like the talismans disciples get when they go to visit their families, the amount of spiritual energy in it was much higher than the other ones. In addition, there was a sense of danger coming from the talisman. Naruto was surprised. Although he didn't know what it was, he knew that it was a treasure.

Hesitating slightly, Naruto put away the yellow paper. Looking at the corpse on the ground, he let out a sigh. If this corpse wasn't taken care of, with Sora's speed, he wouldn't be able to escape the Sect.

Luckily, there was enough room in the bag of holding to hold the corpse. Naruto then organized the room and wiped away the blood. He quietly went into the mountain and disposed of the body, then carefully made his way back to his room.

After lamenting about what happened, he decided to not think about Sora anymore. He took out the immortal talisman and began to study it.

On the first look, the talisman looked exactly like the ones disciples used when visiting home, but upon closer inspection, one could tell from the material and the ink that it was vastly superior than the talismans disciples used to go home.

Naruto squeezed the immortal talisman. He pondered a little. He wasn't sure of the exact usage of this talisman. Since the day that he had almost died from drinking the dew, he had been very careful about things belonging to immortals. He didn't dare to carelessly use them.

Plus, the characters on the talisman revealed a hint of danger, causing him to be even more cautious. After hesitating for a bit, he put away the talisman. He decided to study it later.

After doing all of this, he took out the mysterious bead and entered the dream space.

This time, he didn't focus all his time on cultivation, but spent some learning the Attraction Force Technique.

He felt that the Attraction Force Technique was very useful after using it on brother Sasuke. That was why he was so determined to practice it.

He first used the gourd as a target. He tried using the Attraction Force to grab the gourd. After numerous tries, he finally succeeded. He immediately stopped using the Attraction Force and started from the beginning.

Naruto's thought process was very simple. He felt that he must be able to freely use the Attraction Force. If he tried to use it 10 times, it must succeed 10 times, or else, no matter how strong it was, it couldn't be used in key moments.

He calculated a bit. Given his current condition, he could succeed 3 out of 10 times. With only 4 successes so far, it was far from measuring up to his own standards.

The time spent in the dream flew by. Without Naruto realizing, the feeling of being torn apart came. After coming back to reality, he wasted no time at all. As he opened his eyes, he drank more spring water and started to cultivate. When there was sufficient spiritual energy in his body, he took a deep breath as the contents of the Three Stages of Chakra Condensation appeared in his head.

Aside from the laws for each of the three stages of Chakra Condensation, there were also two very important chants.

These chants were the real core of Chakra Condensation. There were 15 layers of Chakra Condensation. Aside from the first layer, which one could obtain by themself, all the other 14 layers required a chant to enter the next layer.

For example, if he had already completed the first layer, and even mastered the second layer's cultivation method, he could only stay in the first layer if he didn't succeed the second layer's chant.

Naruto muttered the chant in his mind. The spiritual energy in his body started to change. At first, the change was small, but soon, it felt like boiling water was flowing through his body.

It seemed that there wasn't enough spiritual energy as it intermittently spread throughout his body, causing soreness, numbness, itchiness, pain, and the like all over his body. He also had an illusion that his body was full of holes. All of this was caused by the spiritual energy.

There was a very prominent line in Three Stages of Chakra Condensation; the opening chant for each layer won't always succeed.

Talent, spiritual energy, and chance all played key roles. Some people would be able succeed in one try, while some people would need ten or hundreds of tries.

After a long time, the feeling in his body slowly dissipated. Naruto was covered in sweat, and the spiritual energy in his body was all gone. But Naruto knew from the book that the lack of spiritual energy was only temporary and would recover after meditating for a while. He failed to open the second layer, but Naruto was not discouraged. This time, he was just testing it out. It just showed that he didn't have enough spiritual energy at that moment to enter the second layer.

After all, he had just achieved the first layer. There was no rush. He still had the spring water with him, so he could just cultivate until he reached the limit of the first layer before attempting to reach the second layer again. That would increase his chances greatly.

With this plan, Naruto started to cultivate night and day. The spiritual energy in his body started to slowly accumulate, and his mastery of the Attraction Force Technique also increased.

He tried the chant for the second layer many times, but all of them ended in failure.

In reality, half a month had passed, but three months had passed in the dream space. Today, Naruto was cultivating, waiting for the time to enter the dream space again. He saw that it was still early. He hesitated for a bit, then started the chant for the second layer to experience it again.

He couldn't even remember how many times he had experienced it. Every time, it ended with him being worn out and all the spiritual energy in his body gone without success.

Two hours later, Naruto raised his head. He was worn out again, and all he spiritual energy was gone from his body. He muttered to himself with a wry smile, "Failed again. Entering the second layer is too hard!" Suddenly, his eyes darted toward the door.

A cold voice came through the door. "Apprentice-brother Naruto, come out to see me."

The voice sounded familiar. Naruto got up and opened the door to see a 27 or 28 year old youth in black standing outside with a cold air about him.

"Black clothes!" Naruto's heart tightened. He recognized that he was the same person that brought him, Menma, and Udon to the Konoha Sect, and also the person who brought his father to find him near the cliff.

But Naruto remembered that he was wearing white clothes back then. Now, after a few short months, he had risen up to black clothes! He suddenly remembered the day when they were testing at the foot of the mountain. The person who took Udon as a helper said that the man in front of Naruto now had reached a critical point in their cultivation, and took over as the examiner to avoid distracting him.

Among purple, black, white, and red, black represented a really high cultivation. Naruto couldn't see through his cultivation, so he respectfully said, "Naruto greets brother Shino. Congratulations to senior on reaching black clothes."

The black clad youth looked at Naruto and slowly said, "Me successfully breaking into the fifth layer of Chakra Condensation does relate a bit to you. If I hadn't found that cave while looking for you, I wouldn't have broken through so quickly."

Naruto was stunned and asked, "Brother Shino, that hole with the suction force in the cave could help cultivation?"

The black clad youth nodded and said, "When you reach the peak of the fourth layer and need to use the chant to enter the fifth layer, go there yourself and you will see the effect." He glanced at Naruto and said, "Brother Naruto, it can't be helped since your talent is mediocre, but since you are a disciple now, you must cultivate diligently. I see that you have no spiritual energy in you at all. You haven't even reached the first layer of Chakra Condensation. I'm afraid that out of all the inner disciples, you are the only one."

Naruto was stunned but wryly smiled, "I'll take Apprentice-brother's advice to heart. I will double my effort in cultivation." He suddenly changed the subject and asked, "Brother Shino, what is the reason you're here today?"

The black clad youth chuckled and said, "It's nothing serious. The honorary disciple in charge of the chore house disappeared. Someone saw you go there that day, so I came here to ask you about it."

Naruto's expression remained normal and laughed, "I have an inkling of what happened. Normally, I don't go near the chore house, but half a month ago, I passed by it and an honorary disciple was talking behind my back, so I taught him a lesson. Maybe he got scared of me and left the sect."

Brother Shino nodded his head, half laughing. He looked at Naruto and said, "A disgusting honorary disciple is not important. Today, I came to you because the elders have decided that an honorary disciple shouldn't be in charge of the chore house, so they wanted an inner disciple to take over. But no inner disciple wants to go, they are all busy cultivating."

Naruto wryly smiled, "I understand. It seems the task has been assigned to me."

Brother Shino smiled slightly and said, "Pack your things and head there today. Right now, the chore house is really messy. You have to get it back in order."

He cusped his hands at Naruto, took a step, and a sword appeared under his feet. The sword emitted rainbow colors as he rode it away.

Naruto revealed a frustrated expression. He didn't want to go to the chore house. The people there were too nosey; it would be too easy for his secret to be exposed. Also, there would be a lot of work that would disrupt his cultivation. But now, he couldn't not go. With a belly filled with anger, he packed his things and arrived at the chore house.

After arriving there, he reached a decision in his heart. He couldn't stay in the chore house for too long. He had to mess up everything in the chore house so that every honorary disciple would go to the elders to ask for a replacement.

With this idea in mind, Naruto cleaned up Disciple Sasuke's room. Besides the bed and the table, everything that was useless was thrown outside.

While he was doing this, a few disciples arrived at the chore house. They had learned that Naruto was now in charge of assigning chores, so many of them were nervous. The faces of the few that ridiculed Naruto the most were pale and their hearts pounded.

Some had intentions of helping Naruto clean up, but after being glared at, they all obediently stood in the yard.

After he finished cleaning, Naruto casually sat down on a chair. He coldly looked at the 100 plus honorary disciples before him. He knew that the Konoha Sect had a lot of honorary disciples. This was only a fraction of them. In the next few days, there would be more honorary disciples coming back to report on their work.

"You will now chop 500 pounds of firewood!" Naruto casually pointed at a person. He remembered that that person had secretly ridiculed him.

That person was stunned. He immediately cried, "Brother Naruto I … I used to work in the kitchen. I don't know how to chop wood."

Naruto rolled his eyes. He snorted, "Now it's 1000 pounds a day!"

The boy suddenly kneeled to the ground and started crying. "Brother Naruto, you are a good person. I shouldn't have ridiculed you back then. But please, don't be so vindictive I … I … I can't possibly do 1000 pounds, how about 500 pounds?"

The surrounding people all looked at each other. They all knew Naruto would make things difficult, but this was clearly revenge.

There were a few honorary disciples in the crowd that shouted in discontent. "Everyone, don't listen to him. Let's go find an elder and have them carry out justice. Naruto is too overbearing."

"Correct. Let us go find the elders to get another inner disciple to be in charge of this place. If they don't listen to us, we will kneel and never get up."

"True. Let's go, everyone. Don't stay here. This Naruto has a villainous look. He doesn't even remember that he entered the Sect by trying to commit suicide. Such a disgrace."

The sound the dissatisfied voices grew louder and louder. Soon, everyone left the yard while shouting insults. They all had looks of grievance as they went toward the courtyard, all shouting things like, "Naruto doesn't want us to live anymore."

Naruto was relaxed in his heart. He didn't stop them and hoped that they would succeed. This way, the elders would get mad and make someone else take over so he can concentrate on cultivation.

The remaining ten or so people were hesitating. They wanted to leave, but if this thing failed, wouldn't it mean that they had completely disrespected Naruto?

Naruto wasn't in a rush. He waited for the result from the main courtyard. A moment later, all the honorary disciples gloomily came back, one by one. This time, they were no longer shouting, but had eyes filled with despair and silence.

Naruto saw their expressions and knew that they had failed. He was very disappointed in his heart. It seemed he had to make an even bigger commotion. Thinking about it, he scanned the people here and said, "All of you who secretly mocked me, listen to me. I am here today to get revenge. If you're dissatisfied, go to the elders. If you can get me removed from this position, I will have to thank you."

One of the disciples begged, "Brother Naruto, you are a great person. Please forgive us."

"Yes, Brother Naruto, we were blind back then. Please give us a break. I … I'll kowtow to you."

"Brother Naruto, they all mocked you back then, but I never did. I even defended you. I …"

Without waiting for that person to finish, someone on the side angrily said, "Izumo, back then, you mocked him the loudest. Brother Naruto, don't listen to him."

Izumo's expression changed. He angrily said, "Kotetsu, I am your older brother, you backstabbing bastard. Go back to your room and see how I'm going to beat you up."

"I'm loyal, Brother Naruto. You're a kind person, please give me some easier work."

"Brother Naruto, don't listen to those two brothers. They are known for this two man act. Who knows how many honorary disciples they cheated? Apprentice-brother, I'm the person who has never said a bad thing about you."

A very pretty female honorary disciple delicately said, "Brother Naruto, this apprentice-sister has always had a weak body and can't do any hard labor. How about I come and give you a massage every night? Is that ok?"

Among the honorary disciples of the Konoha Sect, there weren't many female disciples. Only about ten percent were female. After all, in the test of perseverance, males had a better chance.

The few female honorary disciples were, of course, well received by everyone. Based on their looks, some even got favored by inner disciples.

Then, another female honorary disciple threw a pretty look at Naruto and flirtatiously said, "Apprentice-brother, brother Sasuke never gave me any hard work, I only ever came to serve him at night. I know a few other apprentice-sisters. I'll take them to see you tonight, ok?"

Everyone was desperately trying to tell Naruto that they had never said anything bad about him. After listening for a very long time, Naruto ran out of patience and shouted, "All of you, shut up. What a mess this is."

After he finished speaking, he pointed at a person and said, "You, 20 vats of water. If you're unhappy, go to the elders."

That person's body quivered. He opened his mouth to talk, but saw the impatience in Naruto's eyes. He immediately smiled and nodded his head.

"You, wash 500 kg of clothes every day. Remember, if you're dissatisfied, go find the elders." The person who was pointed at swallowed hard and almost passed out. He muttered, "500 kg, that's like all the clothes in the sect added together…"

"You, clean the whole sect! Same thing, if you're dissatisfied go find the elders!"

"You, clear the outhouses. If I see one fly in there, you can go live in there."

"You, go gather 500 pounds of herbs a day. If you mix weeds in there to trick me, I'll kick you out of the sect! All of you listen, if you're dissatisfied go find the elders!" For some, while the workload was hard, it was still bearable. However, for the last few he pointed at, their legs grew soft and immediately collapsed on the ground.

All the honorary disciples wore pitiful expressions. The entire Konoha Sect might not even have 500 kg of herbs in the mountains.

…

Based on Naruto's memories of the people that had mocked him, he pointed at them one by one and carefully thought about what jobs to give them. He wasn't tired at all and finally finished assigning all the work. He lounged around for a while and thought that the chores that he assigned were impossible to finish. What could the honorary disciples do other than go complain to the elders? But just in case the elders decided not to do anything, it'd be better to make this mess even bigger, to let them know that it was a big mistake to make me, Naruto, in charge of the chore house.

Thinking about it, he pointed at a person he didn't know and said, "You're in luck. Your job is to keep track of everything. Make a list of all the gifts given to me. Record their names and time of gift. If you try to be greedy, I'll kick you out of the sect!"

That person was so surprised he immediately fell to the ground and kowtowed to Naruto. He repeatedly said that he would remember to do it correctly and not make a mistake.

All the honorary disciples were dumbfounded. Before, Disciple Sasuke was secretive about it, but this Naruto was boldly asking for bribes.

A moment later, an honorary disciple stepped forward and took out three talismans used for visiting home. He presented them to Naruto and said, "Brother Naruto, this is me paying my respects to you."

Naruto replied with a sound. He put the talismans away and asked, "What job were you assigned earlier?"

"Gather 20 vats of water a day!" The person nervously replied.

Naruto slowly said, "Then, do 5 vats a day instead"

That person was surprised and immediately expressed his thanks.

Following that person's lead, everyone else got up and were about to step forward when Naruto slowly stood up and said, "All of you leave. You all need to follow the proper process of giving gifts. Write down your current job and your desired job on a piece of paper, then send it to the person I appointed to manage this. You can only do it only once in 10 days."

After he finished, he went back into his room and closed the door.

The people in the yard where sighing. Some even had anger in their eyes. Their stomachs were full of curses directed at Naruto, but none of them said them out loud. They all dispersed with long faces.

After they left, Naruto came out of the room and explored the entire chore house. He found a remote door to a storage room.

The storage room was not large. After Naruto cleaned it up, although he was disappointed, this was the most secluded place here. He cleaned up to make some space, then locked the door and entered the dream space.

Time flew by. Naruto had already been in charge of the chore house for two months. In those two months, besides assigning jobs to the honorary disciples for the first few days, the rest of the time he focused on his cultivation. As for the chores of the honorary disciples, he didn't care at all. If they didn't do their jobs, all he had to do was snort coldly and they would offer him gifts.

Naruto was very annoyed during those two months. His cultivation was constantly getting interrupted by the honorary disciples. He didn't know what the other inner disciples and elders were thinking. He messed things up this much, but they still hadn't sent a replacement.

"Do I need to be even more unreasonable?" To leave the chore house, Naruto was ready to go all out. He really wanted to see what the limits of the elders were.

Privately, among the honorary disciples, besides the two words trash and shameless, he gained another title; the Black Hearted King.

Compared to Disciple Sasuke's nickname, weasel, it was on a whole different level.

After Naruto had practiced for a year in the dream space, the spiritual energy in his body had increased many folds. He had reached the limit of the first layer. No matter how much he cultivated, his spiritual energy no longer increased. Thus, one night, he started to try the chant to enter the second layer.

After failing so many times, his hard work wasn't a waste as he finally broke into the second layer.

The pores on his body were oozing black grease. After washing himself, Naruto looked at himself and saw that his eyes were like lightning. He looked very different from before.

He rubbed his chin and thought, "There is only the chant for the third layer left. If I go back to Iruka to ask for the chants for the later layers and he finds out I reached the second layer, he will definitely question me about how it happened. If I can't properly explain it, then it will bring me a lot of trouble."

After thinking for a while, Naruto still couldn't think of a good idea. He couldn't help but frown.

With a sigh, Naruto began to practice the Attraction Force Technique. After this year's time of practice, Naruto could now succeed 10 out of 10 times. Since he reached his current degree, he decided to try it on something harder. He found a large rock in the chore house and began to practice.

Another month had passed. What Naruto had done at the chore house caused all the honorary disciples to complain non-stop. It was winter time and the sect started to prepare for the yearly inner disciple competition.

This year was the Konoha Sect's honorary disciple competition that happens every 10 years. If one ranked in the top three, they would become an inner disciple. All the honorary disciples were polishing their fighting skills and secretly plotting.

Therefore, things related to the chore house were delayed as everyone was too busy.

Naruto was very disappointed that he was still in charge of the chore house. As for the inner disciple competition, he didn't plan to participate. If he had the time, why not spend it cultivating in the dream space instead?

Today, it started to snow on the Heng Yue mountain. From a distance, it seemed like a land of snow.

Naruto wasn't cultivating, but stood quietly in the yard. The Attraction Force technique activated as if there was a giant hand moving around, pushing away all the snow so none would land on him.

Looking toward where his home was, he remembered that his parents would have the stove burning to keep the house warm around this time of year.

He would sit next to the stove reading. Dad would be on the side carving, and mom would be storing pickled vegetables.

Sometimes, he'd be tired from reading and sit next to his dad, watching him carve. When he was in high spirits, he would go and help his dad. There was a lot of joy between them.

Naruto remembered that under his bed were some wooden tops. He would sometimes take them out and play with them on the ice with the neighborhood kids.

Thinking about all this, Naruto took a deep breath. A cultivator needs to sever all mortal ties, and all of these were thoughts that would disrupt cultivation. Naruto closed his eyes. When he opened them again, his mind was clear. He couldn't sever all his mortal connections, so he hid them deep in his heart.

While he was reminiscing, his expression suddenly changed. He was now in the second layer of Chakra Condensation and had wakened his ability of divine sense. All of this was described in the Three Layers of Chakra Condensation book.

With a scan of his divine sense, he noticed that Udon was coming in his direction. A moment later, the door opened. Udon walked in, wearing a leather cap and leather coat. He looked at Naruto, surprised, and said, "Brother Iron Heart, aren't you cold? Wearing this little and still standing outside."

Naruto chuckled, "I calculated that you would come and see me so I came out to welcome you, you little rascal." He didn't feel cold at all. After reaching the second layer of Chakra Condensation, he noticed that his body was a lot stronger than before.

Udon chuckled. He walked in and carefully looked at Naruto and said, "Brother Iron Heart, how come I feel you're a bit different from a few months ago?"

Naruto said, "That's natural. I have reached the second layer of Chakra Condensation and can be considered an immortal!"

Udon's mouth twitched. He went into the room and said, "Don't boast. Our talents are at about the same level. I have received help from immortal pills and still haven't reached the first layer. But for you to reach the second layer? Impossible."

Naruto didn't try to clarify. Sometimes, when he told the truth, people wouldn't even believe him, and if he lied, then he might end up causing others to be suspicious. In the end, his relationship with Udon wasn't deep. Better to be on guard.

To trust someone at first sight was not something that Naruto was capable of.

"Udon, how come you have time to visit me today? Is the pill house not busy?" Naruto returned to the room and poured Udon a cup of hot water.

Udon took the hot water and blew it a few times before taking a sip. He smiled. "You haven't gone to the pill house to pick up your things in the past few months. I've been saving your portion, and came to deliver it to you today." As he was talking, he took out a small package and put it on the table.

Naruto revealed a faint smile. He didn't even look at the package, but looked at Udon. He didn't believe Udon only came to deliver a package.

Udon was embarrassed after being stared at and said, "Iron Heart, I heard you've been doing pretty well at the chore house these past few months."

Naruto poured himself some water. He took a sip and said, "Udon, just say what you need to say. If I can help, I definitely will!"

Udon's expression was awkward. He moved closer and mysteriously said, "Brother Iron Heart, I always knew you were a smart person. Speaking honestly, I know you have a lot of the talisman the honorary disciples use to visit home. Can you lend me some?"

Naruto's expression remained normal. He asked, "How much do you need?"

Udon hesitated and said, "At least 200."

"That much? What do you need it for?" Naruto was stunned. He did have 200 talismans. He had received almost 500 from bribes.

Udon sighed and said, with a bitter face, "Brother Iron Heart, in two months it will be the inner disciple competition. While I can participate, I don't have any chance of winning. But I refuse to give up. That bastard Menma has already reached the first layer of Chakra Condensation and I heard that he is attempting to reach the second layer."

"How does he cultivate so quickly?" Naruto hadn't see Menma in a while and was quite surprised. It seemed that talent really mattered.

Udon revealed an angry expression and said, "It's only because he has a good master. His master didn't care about the price and begged my master for a batch of Foundation Establishment pills. Those are very precious pills within the sect. After eating the pill, cultivation speed increases drastically."

Naruto nodded and asked, "What does this have to do with you borrowing talismans?"

Udon muttered, "Of course there is a connection. You don't interact with others much, but a month before the competition, all the inner disciples will hold a small exchange. There, everyone takes out their treasures to exchange for the final preparation. I heard from some seniors that attended it before. They said that during the exchange, anything can be used, like flying swords, magical treasures, pills, etc."

After Naruto heard this, his heart started pounding. He didn't have much interest in flying swords or magical treasures, but the chants for the Chakra Condensation stages were important to him. Thinking that he might be able to obtain them at the exchange, he pondered for a while and said, "The inner disciples trust each other that much, to just do these exchanges?"

Udon laughed and said, "Brother Iron Heart, you have asked an important question. There is one rule during this exchange, and that's also the requirement to enter the exchange. That is, have a disguise pill. After taking the disguise pill, unless someone is at the foundation stage, no one can recognize you."

A thought flashed through Naruto's head. "You are borrowing all these talismans for that pill?"

Udon was stunned. He nodded and said, "Brother Iron Heart is really smart. That is true. This pill is controlled by my master, and around this time of year, he starts to privately sell them. The price is 200 talismans."

Naruto considered a bit and said, "This exchange seems quite interesting. I want to go check it out as well."

Udon quickly said, "Sure, as long as you have a disguise pill, you can attend. My goal this time is a Foundation Establishment pill. I heard that this time, there is a disciple selling them."

Naruto waved his right hand and took out 400 talismans from his bag of holding. He made them into 4 bundles of 100 talismans each.

Udon's eyes lit up, then stored them in his bag of holding. "Brother Iron Heart, there is still about half a month of time. I'll come and find you then. We can go together."

Naruto nodded. They talked for a while and Udon left.

After Udon left, he contemplated it for a while. Naruto attached great importance to this exchange, as this was a chance for him to get the chants for the later Chakra Condensation stages.

But he didn't have anything valuable, and all the talismans were used on buying the disguise pill. After pondering for a long time, he decided to bring some spiritual energy filled Spring Water. That should be able to attract some people.

With the help of the pill, no one would know his identity.

After making up his mind, Naruto no longer thought about this matter. Right now, he couldn't enter the dream space, so he started to practice the Attraction Force Technique on the large rocks in the chore house.

He had already practiced the Attraction Force over ten thousand times in the dream space. He had become more and more skilled at it. If it was used on a gourd, then the success rate was 10 out of 10. Now, in everyday life, as long as he moved his hand, he could grab small objects.

If the size was too big, the success rate would lower, but with his spiritual energy still growing, and after he entered the second layer, the Attraction Force Technique was starting to show its true power.

After practicing on the large rocks for a few hours, it was dark and snowing outside, but Naruto didn't immediately enter the dream space. He stood at the doorway and stared at the snowflakes as he started to ponder.

Throughout the month, while cultivating at the second layer, Naruto noticed a problem. The effects of the spiritual energy filled Spring Water had decreased. Although the decrease was very small and could be made up, it brought him endless worry.

He was afraid that, as his Chakra Condensation stage got higher and higher, one day, the spiritual energy filled Spring Water would lose its effect.

While soaking the mysterious bead in liquid dew was the best, followed by spring water, dew collection was far too slow. There was not enough to use, and there was none in the winter. The spring water was the easiest and most practical to get and he had an endless supply, however, if one day, the spring water is no longer effective, Naruto needed to have something to replace it.

He slightly moved his hand and activated the Attraction Force Technique. Chunks of snow formed into a dragon and charged into a large pot in the room.

After a short while, Naruto had filled half the pot. He stopped the Attraction Force Technique and came next to the pot. He formed a seal with his right hand. After more than ten tries, he finally formed a baby-sized fireball. The fireball emitted a lot of heat and quickly melted the snow.

After all of the snow had melted, he wiped the sweat off his forehead. Continuously using two techniques had made him very tired.

There wasn't much snow water in the pot. He threw the mysterious bead into pot and took it out ten minutes later.

He now had a very good understanding of the mysterious bead. Soaking it in spring water for 10 minutes was the limit. He had tested soaking it for longer, but found that as long as it was in for at least ten minutes, the effect remained the same.

He took a drink of the water, then closed his eyes and carefully examined the change in the spiritual energy in his body. A moment later, he opened his eyes and muttered, "The effect is a lot better than spring water, but still below dew. It can be used!"

He immediately took out countless gourds. They were all the gourds that he had gathered in the mountains. After working for the entire night, all the snow in his yard was gone. That snow filled up a small portion of the gourds with spiritual energy water.

In the next few days, besides training in the dream space, Naruto had been busy collecting snow to melt for water. If not for the fear of the spiritual energy escaping, he would have used vats, so he used gourds instead. It was good that he had enough gourds. After only a few days, he had accumulated a few hundred gourds filled with snow water. He calculated that the snow water that he had collected in those gourds was enough for him to use in the dream space for a long time.

After storing the snow water, Naruto went back to cultivating. Although the spring water's effect had dropped, it was still useful.

In the blink of an eye, ten days had passed. Over those ten days, Naruto had drunk more spring water than he ever had before. Good thing the spring water dissolved into spiritual energy in his body, otherwise, there was no way his stomach could handle that much water.

The amount of spiritual energy needed for the second layer was much greater than the first layer. In fact, Naruto had already cultivated for more than 9 months in his dream space.

If it was the first layer, after cultivating for 9 months with this much spiritual energy, he would have achieved some good results, but now, even though he felt that his body contained much more spiritual energy, he still wasn't able to reach the results he desired.

The day that Naruto agreed with to meet with Udon had come, so Naruto didn't enter the dream space. Around midnight, it started to snow, and Udon entered Naruto's divine sense.

Shortly after, Udon opened the door, but didn't come in. He quickly said, "Master took a long time to refine pills and delayed me. Come quickly, the exchange is about to start."

Udon hurried toward the exchange and Naruto hastily followed.

The two walked in the snow and wandered out of the sect's courtyards and into the mountains.

The current road was very slippery, so Udon walked very slowly. His body was shaking. He whispered, "What's with his damn weather? If I fell down the mountain here and died, even if I was I ghost, I would want some justice!"

Naruto's body was now very light. He didn't share Udon's discomfort at all. In fact, he felt that the weather was pretty good. He thought that, after the exchange was over, he could collect a lot more snow water.

After walking for a while, Udon stopped. He secretly handed Naruto a green pill and whispered, "We are almost there. I came here a few days ago. It's only a few turns away. Let us take the pill now, so no one will know our identities."

Udon took out a similar pill swallowed it. A thick black fog appeared and covered Udon's body. A gruff voice came out from the fog and said, "How is it? Can you tell who I am?"

Naruto scanned Udon with his divine sense and found that he felt as if there was a barrier of mud blocking him. That made him feel like the pill was safe to take. He laughed and said, "This pill is really amazing!" Then he took the pill and a similar thing happened to him as well.

The two quickly walked forward. After making a few turns, they arrived at an open area.

The open space was very large. Dozens of people stood there, covered in black fog like them, in silence.

After Naruto and Udon arrived, they found an empty space and stood there without moving.

Not long after, seeing that no one else was coming, one person stepped forward, coughed once, then hoarsely said, "Time is up. This time, I will host the exchange again. Just as before, I'll go first." After he finished talking, he pulled out a little silver sword and said, "This flying sword doesn't belong to the sect. It's one that I obtained myself and it's very powerful. I want only 500 talismans."

Everyone started to talk about the sword amongst themselves for a while, then someone walked forward and, without a word, handed over 500 talismans and finished the trade.

Another began to say, "I have this piece of magical jade that could release a skill similar to earth split three times. I only want 10 Chakra Gathering Pills." He took out a piece of jade, waved it and put it away.

Someone not far from Naruto immediately said, "I'll exchange with you!" As he was coming out, another person quickly said, "I'll trade 12 pills for that piece of jade!"

The first person hesitated and stared hard at the second person without a word. He felt that 10 pills was the limit.

Soon after, people came up one by one, showing off their stuff, and the scene became lively, especially when people fought over a certain item. Whoever had the highest bid won.

"I have a technique here that, as long as you're above the second layer of Chakra Condensation, you can use it to hide your cultivation for a short period of time, unless the person is already at the Foundation Establishment stage. I know that this thing is pretty useless. I only want 10 … 5 Chakra Gathering Pills for it." The person who said it was very hesitant.

Everyone laughed. This technique really was useless. All of the disciples wanted to show off their cultivation, because the higher the cultivation, the better their treatment. Who was that bored, to want to hide their cultivation? If it lasted longer, then it would at least have some use, but it only lasted for a short period and cost so much; 5 Chakra Gathering Pills.

Seeing that no one wanted it the person sighed. Just as he was about to put it away, Naruto called out, "I'll trade 5 Chakra Gathering Pills for it."

The person in the middle was stunned. They quickly became excited and came up to exchange.

Holding the thing containing the technique, Naruto was stunned. He had never seen this type of thing before. He quickly scanned it with his divine sense and the method for the technique quickly appeared in his mind.

This thing might be useless for others, but it was very useful to him, even though it could only hide cultivation for a short period of time.

A voice suddenly rang out. Despite it being hoarse, it was still filled with pride. "One Foundation Establishment pill. State your offer!"

Udon immediately became excited and quickly said, "20 Chakra Gathering Pills!"

"1000 talismans plus a flying sword!"

"2000 talismans!"

"30 Chakra Gathering Pills plus 500 talismans!"

"A piece of skill jade, a flying sword, 10 Chakra Gathering Pills and 500 talismans!"

The crowd loudly shouted their offers. They clearly viewed the Foundation Establishment pill as an item of great importance. Naruto had heard about this Foundation Establishment pill from Udon. After taking the pill, its effect would stay in the body for two months. In those two months, the rate in which one absorbed spiritual energy would be increased by several times. It was something every disciple under the 7th layer of Chakra Condensation desired.

That pill was very precious, even in the sect. Every disciple normally only had two chances of obtaining it; when a disciple was promoted to black cloth rank, they could receive one, and when they get promoted to purple cloth they would receive two.

Naruto had no interest in this Foundation Establishment Pill at all. Seeing the price already so high, he sighed for Udon. It seemed that Udon wouldn't be able to get this Foundation Establishment Pill.

While thinking this, he heard Udon shout, "230 Chakra Gathering Pills! This is my limit. Any more and I'm not trading!"

The scene quickly became silent. 230 Chakra Gathering Pills was already a very high price. Not many could beat it. But the Foundation Establishment pill was simply too rare, and few were willing to give theirs up.

The person selling the Foundation Establishment pill smiled. He arrogantly said, "With just 230 Chakra Gathering Pills, you want to trade for my Foundation Establishment pill? If the price is under 2000 Chakra Gathering Pills, I'm not trading!"

Naruto quickly listened to his voice. After pondering for a while, he secretly guessed that this person was Menma, but he was not sure, because he was completely hidden by the black fog.

Udon shrugged and didn't say a word. Everyone present was stunned by that person's arrogance.

The person in charge coughed and said, "Ok everyone, since that person doesn't want to trade his Foundation Establishment Pill, let us move on and continue the exchange."

Before long, another person came out and presented their goods. Soon, it was Naruto's turn. He stepped forward, took out a small bottle, and said, "A mysterious liquid that could match 1 drop to 1 Chakra gathering pill. There are about 100 drops in here. I only want the chants for the 4th layer or later." After he finished talking, he opened the bottle. Everyone could sense the spiritual energy within it.

Many people became mesmerized. Although Chakra Gathering Pills were filled with spiritual energy, it was still a finished product. This liquid had many more uses, like refining more pills.

Even when refining treasures, like a flying swords it would help increase its spiritual power.

Someone immediately said, "I'll trade the chant for the 4th layer with you!"

Naruto raised his brow and said, "Only the 4th layer?"

Another person shouted, "How about the chants for the 4th, 5th, and 6th layers to trade for that mysterious liquid?"

Naruto pondered a little. He shook his head and said, "I want the chants for the 4th through 15th layer."

"Brother, aren't you making this too difficult for us? Even second elder apprentice-brother Zabuza, who won last year's competition, is only at the 6th layer, and they only have the chant for 7th, 8th, and 9th layer. From the 10th to 15th layer, only a few elder apprentice-brothers have them!"

Naruto was stunned. He hesitated for a while. Suddenly, a voice from not far away said, "If you have 200 drops of that liquid, I can give you the chant for layers 4 through 9!"

Everyone looked toward the voice and saw a man wearing purple walking toward the disguised Naruto. He was only about 20 years old, but had a cold expression. When he arrived, he looked at the surroundings and everyone was shocked. They respectfully said, "Second elder apprentice-brother Zabuza!"

The purple clothed man didn't pay any attention to them, but said to Naruto, "Do you have 200 drops?"

Naruto's face hardened and his pupils shrank. He was getting an extremely dangerous feeling from this person, far exceeding anyone else that he had met in the Konoha Sect.

Even master Iruka and brother Shino couldn't compare to him.

Naruto respectfully replied, "This liquid is something I found by accident. Besides these 100 drops, I have a few dozen left to use for myself. I don't have that much."

The purple clothed man pondered a little. He tossed out a piece of jade and said, "Fine. Give me the rest of the liquid and these chants are yours!"

Naruto took the piece of jade and scanned it to make sure it contained what he needed. He took out another bottle and placed the two bottles on the ground. He didn't get closer to the purple clothed man.

The purple clothed man looked at Naruto, then waved his hand. The two bottles flew towards him. After scanning them with his divine sense, he said, "If you get more of this liquid, come look for me in the back mountains. It doesn't matter if its Foundation Establishment pills, flying swords, skill jade, or even the chant for the 10th layer or later. I can get them all!" After he finished speaking, he turned around and left.

Naruto's eye became narrow and his gaze became cold. The last thing that purple clothed man said was simply too vicious. If it was the people in the crowd, they might not have immediately realized, but Naruto had always been smart, so he could always see the deeper meaning in things.

The words the guy said meant that anyone could take the mysterious liquid to him to trade. That placed Naruto in a very dangerous position.

Although he couldn't see other people's eyes, he could feel that there were people secretly watching him.

But after Naruto decided to bring out the spring water, he had already prepared for this possibility, so he didn't panic and calmly checked his surrounding.

The crowd quickly continued the exchange until it was over. As people left, there were people who were filled with joy, as well as many filled with disappointment.

Naruto did not leave with Udon, but placed a dozen or so talismans on his legs and rushed out. He disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Udon was a smart person and understood why Naruto did this. He quickly used a talisman and left the exchange ground.

The disciples that revealed some good treasures all did the same and quickly left.

The several disciples that had malicious thoughts toward Naruto after seeing the mysterious liquid were all taken by surprise. They wanted to chase, but only saw a shadow. They cursed a few times and left.

Some of the higher cultivation level disciples didn't go and blatantly try steal things. This was, after all, an exchange between disciples of the same sect. If killing and stealing really occurred and was found out by the other's master, then there would be dire consequences.

As Naruto was running, he kept placing more talismans on his legs. The speed the talismans gave stacked, so, with a few dozen talismans on his legs, he quickly returned to the sect courtyard.

The person he was the most afraid of was the purple clothed man. He didn't immediately return to the chore house, but hid in an empty room.

Only when daylight appeared and the disguise disappeared did Naruto carefully leave the room. Luckily, along the way back, there was nothing.


	8. Chapter 8

With the chants all the way up to the 9th layer, Naruto could continue his cultivation. He returned to his reclusive lifestyle, while heavy tension loomed over the Konoha Sect.

All of the inner sect disciples were preparing for the competition. If they could reach the top, then magic treasures, pills, talismans, spirit stones, and more will be rewarded to them.

What made their eyes green with envy was that this time, the sect took out one of its big treasures, the Two Moon Ring, as the reward for first place.

This Two Moon Ring belonged to a senior of the sect from 300 years ago. It contained great defensive power.

Therefore, all of the inner disciples were secretly preparing their strength.

As for the newcomer competition, since there were only a handful of new inner disciples, everyone predicted that the winner of the newcomer competition will be Menma.

As for the honorary disciples, they became even more hostile toward each other. The competition to become an inner disciple was a chance to turn their lives around. Everyone was secretly preparing for it.

This tense atmosphere had nothing to do with Naruto at all. In addition to cultivation, he also practiced the attraction technique. The day before the end of the month, he left the chore house and headed straight for the main courtyard.

The technique to hide his cultivation level was activated. The spiritual energy in his body quickly disguised itself to the level of the first layer of Chakra Condensation.

He found that the people at the chore house were too annoying and kept him from cultivating properly, so he wanted an excuse to go to a quiet place to cultivate.

After arriving at the main courtyard, he walked in. A while later, he stepped in front of Iruka's herb garden and respectfully said, "Disciple Naruto requests to meet master."

"Why are you here?" The herb garden's gate didn't open. It seemed Iruka really didn't like this disciple.

Naruto's expression remained normal. He respectfully said, "Disciple's cultivation is too low, and I'm afraid I won't be able to win in the competition and lose master face, so I would like to refrain from participating."

Iruka sneered, "Hmmm, it seems you are still a bit self aware, you little brat. Look at Yamato's disciple, Menma. So young, yet already at the peak of the first layer, and could enter the second layer at any time. Even if you went, it would be useless. The others could kill you with their finger. I even heard you guys are relatives. How could there be such a big difference?"

Naruto didn't care and said, "Menma has been smart since he was young, and he's naturally talented. He's not someone this disciple could compete with."

Iruka pondered for a while and asked, "Did you find any more gourds in the past half year?"

Naruto shook his head, revealing a look of helplessness, and said, "This has really been strange. I have been to the mountain multiple times, but haven't seen any gourds."

Iruka coldly said, "Do you have anything else to say? If not, then scram. Every time I see you, I get angry!" Every time he laid eyes on Naruto, he couldn't contain his anger. He wished he could just kill Naruto with one hand so the others wouldn't laugh at him.

Naruto bowed and respectfully said, "Master, disciple is really bored from staying up here in the mountains and would like to leave until after the new year. What do you think?"

Iruka refused and said, "Leave the mountain? You can't. I almost forgot until you mentioned it, but in four years is the competition between the other sects. This time, the head already ordered that after the new year, most of the inner disciples will go into intense closed door training. You should go so you don't ruin my name in the intersect competition."

"Intense training?" Naruto was stunned.

"Every 20 years, there must be a competition between the sects. That has been the rule for hundreds of years. Although Suna is friendly with our Heng Yue sect on the surface, we secretly have a lot of disagreements. For the past 100 years, we have always lost to them, which is very disgraceful. That's why there will be this intense training. You listen to me well. If after four years you haven't made any advancement and make me lose face during the competition, I'll kick you out of the Konoha Sect no matter what!" After saying that, Iruka didn't explain anymore.

Naruto secretly let out a sigh. It seemed that training outside the sect won't be possible. Seeing that Iruka's tone wasn't friendly, he nodded and took his leave.

After returning to the chore house, Naruto pondered a little. Since he couldn't train outside the sect, let's use this intense training to properly cultivate.

The next day, the competition began. The scene was very lively. Naruto didn't go. He used this time to cultivate and solidify his foundation in the second layer.

In the next few days, Naruto found out from the gossip of the honorary disciples that among the inner disciples, apprentice-brother Shino got first place, but only because no purple ranked disciple participated.

As for Menma, he unsurprisingly became the king of the new disciples. He became even more arrogant and no longer viewed disciples his age as people on his level.

A week later, in the morning, a bell rang throughout the sect. It rang five times. That meant that all inner disciples must quickly gather outside the main hall.

Naruto couldn't hear the bell from inside the dream space. It wasn't until the furious Iruka kicked open the chore house's door and woke him. He quickly put away the bead and opened up the door to the secret training room, only to see Iruka's furious face, shouting, "Naruto are you deaf? Did you not hear the bell? You bastard! All of the inner disciples participating in the intense training are there but you! You made me lose face before elder apprentice-brother! You… you make me so mad!"

Naruto raised his brow and remained silent.

Iruka gave Naruto a hard look. He knew that this was not the time to scold his disciple, because the head and apprentice-brothers were all waiting. Without a word, he grabbed Naruto and stepped onto the seven colored cloud and flew into the sky.

At top speed, they arrived in front of the main hall. Iruka mercilessly threw Naruto to the ground. Iruka said, in a low whisper, "Naruto, follow me in. If you make me lose face again, I'll go against the sect rules and kill you!" Those last words by Iruka were filled with killing intent. He was already at his wit's end with this disciple. He later decided that he must find a reason to kick his disciple out of the sect.

Naruto rubbed his shoulder. If he hadn't already reached the second layer of Chakra Condensation, then that fall would have broken his arm. He lowered his head and whispered, "Disciple obeys."

Iruka snorted. He tidied his clothes and walked into the main hall. Naruto took a deep breath and suppressed his anger as he walked into the hall as well.

The Konoha Sect main hall was the most grand place within the sect. It was a wide hall with dozens of status of sages of the sect. The entire hall was filled with a sense of awe.

After Naruto followed Iruka into the hall, dozens of gazes suddenly gathered on him. He had difficulty breathing and quickly lowered his head.

More than 40 inner disciples stood inside the hall. There were disciples of black, white, and red rank, but no purple. All of these disciples had serious expressions. Among them, Naruto could see many faces that he knew, like Menma, the girl named Sakura, the girl name Kurenai, apprentice-brother Shino, and such.

Right in front of them sat two rows of more than 10 elders, all with cold expressions. Right in the middle sat a person, about 40 years old, wearing a blue gown, with eyes like lightning. He said, "Junior Brother Iruka, this is your disciple?"

Iruka quickly put up a smiling face and said, "Elder apprentice-brother, this is my disciple, Naruto. He entered the sect late, so he doesn't know the meaning behind the bell ringing 5 times."

A red faced man sitting on the right sneered, "The disciple is really like his master. He's kinda dumb, just like you were back then."

A man on his side laughed. "Apprentice-brother isn't correct. Junior Brother Iruka at least had some talent, so he was much stronger than his disciple."

Iruka's face changed between red and white for a while. He gave Naruto a hard look. He snorted and ignored Naruto and went to sit down.

The man in the blue gown frowned. He looked at Naruto one more time before forgetting about him and said, "As said before, these 4 years of intense training must provide results. We must win in the competition against Suna. Starting today, you will be entering the back mountain. Everyone will be provided with their own cultivation place. This time, the sect will provide 10,000 Chakra gathering pills for you all to use. None of you may leave the mountain during this time."

All of the inner disciples replied in unison.

The man in the blue gown nodded and continued to say, "I hope that in four years, one of you will become a purple clothed disciple. Purple clothed disciple means a core disciple far more important than inner disciples. Forget it, experience it for yourself. Now, all of you, go to the back mountain and someone will lead to you the cultivation ground."

After he finished speaking, he waved his sleeves and a white light shot out from them. After circling the hall once, he growled, "Open!"

The white light suddenly expanded and soon engulfed all of the inner disciples.

"Go!" Following the growl from the man in the blue gown, the white light sparkled and disappeared from the main hall.

Naruto felt a warm sensation in his body. After the blink of an eye, he found himself inside a valley. This place had much more spiritual energy than the other places. Sounds of water could be heard from all sides. He scanned the area and found the other inner disciples chatting with each other.

This valley had no plants. It was a cliff with many holes carved into it, like a bee hive. Some of the holes were sealed with giant rocks.

Suddenly Naruto noticed that someone was watching him. He turned around and saw Menma smiling at him coldly.

At that moment, a youth came out from one of the holes in the cliff. He was wearing purple clothes and coldly looked at everyone. He said, "Fellow apprentice-brothers and sisters, this is the back mountains of the Konoha Sect. As for back mountain, it's not really the back of the Konoha Sect, but a cultivation ground for inner disciples built by several Soul Transformation stage experts 500 years ago. This place has much thicker spiritual energy than normal. Since you are here, you must concentrate on cultivating, or else don't blame us seniors for kicking you out of the back mountain."

Naruto recognized this purple clothed youth. He was the person that bought Naruto's spiritual energy liquid . It was rumored that he was already at the 6th layer of Chakra Condensation and that he was very unpredictable.

Naruto lowered his head. This kind of scheming he understood well because he put him into a dangerous situation before.

"I have the chants for the 7th layer and below. If you reach that level, but don't have the chant, come to me. Once I check you, I'll give it to you. As for where you will be practicing, any one of these caves that isn't sealed can be chosen. Here are bottles of Chakra Gathering pills. Each bottle contains 50 pills and will be refilled once a year." After he finished speaking, he waved his hand and 50 white bottles appeared on the ground.

Some of the inner disciples stepped forward and took a bottle, then started to look for the entrance to the cultivation area.

Naruto took a deep breath. Because he took a disguise pill back then, that person didn't know his identity, so he went up and took a bottle. Zabuza stood at the side, looking at the inner disciples take the bottles one by one, when he suddenly saw Naruto. He had a strange look on his face and said, "Whats your name? How come you haven't even reached the first layer of Chakra Condensation? Who is your master?"

Naruto stopped and turned around. He respectfully said, "Senior brother, my name is Naruto. My master is Iruka. My talent is lacking, that's why I haven't reached the first layer yet."

Zabuza was stunned. He smiled. "You are Naruto? I heard about you before. Although talent is important, perseverance is also key. Since your talent is lacking, you must work even harder!"

Naruto quickly promised.

"This cliff is too high for you since you're not even at the first layer. I'll give you a lift." Zabuza waved his sleeves. An invisible force appeared under Naruto's feet and pushed him until he was in front of a cave.

Naruto respectfully thanked Zabuza. After he turned around and entered the cave, his face quickly darkened. If he hadn't met this apprentice-brother before, he would have been thankful, but after seeing his true nature, he would, of course, not take this small favor to heart.

The cave wasn't large. There was only a stone bed and a lever on the wall. Naruto walked over and pulled the lever. Suddenly, a roaring sound could be heard as a giant rock fell down and completely sealed the cave.

After carefully examining the cave again and finding nothing wrong, Naruto was very satisfied with the place. When he looked for Iruka, he wanted to look for a place to cultivate outside of the sect. Although he was rejected, the current situation lead him to a place that was pretty close to his original plans.

The only downside was that there was no source of water inside the cave. Naruto's cultivation mainly relied on the spiritual energy liquid. But in his bag of holding, he had collected a lot of snow water, so it should be enough for him to use for a while.

He also heard sounds of water inside the valley. As long as he was a bit cautious, water shouldn't be an issue.

After thinking about it, he took out the mysterious bead and started his first closed door training.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, 2 years had passed. During those two years, Naruto was either cultivating or practicing his attraction technique, but he didn't feel lonely at all.

Even though it had been two years in the real world, in reality, he had been in closed door training for 13 years.

The spiritual energy here was very rich. He was very impressed. Although it couldn't compare to the spiritual energy liquid, whenever he was waiting in the real world, he found the spiritual energy to be at least twice as dense as it was outside of the back mountains.

Starting from the second layer, his cultivation became very slow. After cultivating in the dream space for more than 6 years, he reached the limit of the second layer. He then started to tackle breaking into the third layer. After countless tries, he finally broke through.

But what was causing him confusion and distress was that in the 7 years after, even though he had already reached the peak of the 3rd layer, he couldn't enter the 4th layer, no matter how hard he tried. It was not that he lacked spiritual energy. He felt a mysterious force stopping him every time he reached the critical point.

And this 3rd layer of Chakra Condensation was also weird. It was unlike the 1st or 2nd layer, where once he reached the peak, he couldn't condense any more spiritual energy.

Although Naruto felt that he had reached the limit, the 3rd layer didn't seem to have a limit. If he continued to cultivate, his spiritual energy would continue to increase and keep transforming his body.

This caused Naruto to be very surprised, but no matter how hard he thought about it, he couldn't find an answer.

Today, all of the snow water had been used up. He only had one gourd of spiritual energy liquid left. That gourd had been with him for a long time. It was one of the three that Naruto buried in the mountains. He used two of them to make the 10th cloud appear on the bead, and considering that he almost died the last time he took a gulp of it, he had been very wary of it and kept it in his bag of holding.

After a bit of hesitation, Naruto didn't take out that gourd. Based on his calculations, the amount of spiritual energy in that gourd had already reached a terrifying state. He could always use it once he reached a higher level of Chakra Condensation.

He stood up and stretched his body. He walked to the lever and pulled. With a roar, the stone door opened. Sunlight poured into the cave and blinded Naruto. After he got used to the light, he came out of the cave and took a deep breath.

Looking down, there were a lot of people chatting in the valley. It seemed that a lot of these people found cultivation dull and came to socialize.

After pondering a little, he activated the technique to hide his cultivation level to the first layer of Chakra Condensation. He waved his sleeves and jumped forward. His body slowly floated down to the ground.

In the 13 years that he had spent in the dream space, he had completely mastered the attraction technique. He didn't even need to say the chant anymore, he only needed to will it to use it.

Like now, he was using the attraction technique on his body. Although it could be said that once the attraction technique reached a certain level, it was doable, that was only when one moved slowly. The moment it speeds up, it becomes difficult.

But Naruto felt so confident now, that even if he needed to fly quickly, he wouldn't lose control. Without more than 10 years of practicing the attraction technique, this would be impossible.

But who had the time to waste on practicing for 10 years on this low level technique? All of cultivators were racing against time. If they had the time, why not practice some higher level techniques?

In order to not attract attention, Naruto slowly landed in the valley. Right as he landed, he could hear the sound of ridicule. "The sun really came out from the west side. Even the trash, Naruto, has reached the first layer of Chakra Condensation and can finally come down from the cliff without help."

Naruto turned his head. He indifferently looked at Menma. There were also a few people sitting next to him. They were all inner disciples.

A 24 to 25 year old white clothed youth laughed. "Naruto, you shouldn't be here. You should be mixed with those honorary disciples back in the chore house. At least there, you can feel high and mighty, but here, you are the worst of all of us."

Naruto scanned with his divine sense. Menma was the same as him, reaching the peak of the third layer, and the white clothed youth had reached the peak of the 4th layer. He could break through it at any time.

Menma proudly said, "Naruto, you sure were smart 2 years ago. You knew you weren't my match, so you just gave up. But let me tell you, trash will always be trash. You will never match up to me. I was the top newcomer two years ago, what are you?"

The white clothed youth beside him laughed. "Junior brother, go fetch me some water from the river there. Your senior brother is feeling good, so I might give you some pointers." As he was speaking, he threw a bottle. It landed at Naruto's feet.

Naruto remained silent and looked at the white clothed youth.

The white clothed youth said, with a dismissive look, "What does this mean? You want to fight? Let me tell you, second apprentice-brother already said that inner disciples can't fight with each other. If you don't act properly, don't blame me for teaching you a lesson."

"That's enough. All of you shut up!" A shout came from the cliff. Soon, a shadow appeared like lightning, revealing apprentice-brother Shino's shadow. He frowned and looked at everyone and growled, "Menma, Kiba, the two of your aren't cultivating, but are here bullying a junior who is only at the first layer of Chakra Condensation. Is this really that interesting?"

The two's expression quickly changed. They quickly shot Naruto ugly looks and lightly snorted. Afterwards, they didn't say any more. They clearly feared marital brother Shino.

Apprentice-brother Shino's gaze turned to Naruto and equally harshly said, "Naruto, you really shouldn't have come, but since you're here, you should properly cultivate. In the world of cultivation, power is everything."

Naruto nodded. He hesitated a bit and asked, "Apprentice-brother Shino, I have a question. After reaching the peak of the first layer of Chakra Condensation, why, no matter what I do, can't I break into the second layer?"

Menma snorted and said, "With your talent, don't even think about reaching the second layer in your lifetime!"


End file.
